The Previous Generation
by Mythology
Summary: Lily and James are in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. It is the hardest year that they will face yet. Emenies become friends and more. It is a year where the unexpected can happen. Chapter 10 is up finally.
1. Breaking Through Barriers

I am reposting this story because I decided to start fresh after making revisions. I would like to thank the people who reviewed to this story the last time I reposted and I promise the newest chapter will be up shortly. I am almost done with the eighth chapter I just have a few more scenes to write and I hope to get it done by the end of the week. So look out for it.

I will also be posting the rest of the edited chapters tomorrow. Thank-you for you patients.

If there are anymore spelling and grammar errors within these two chapters that I have missed, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could tell me specifically where they are. Thanks

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation 

Chapter 1: Breaking Through Barriers

"Late again Miss Evans, that's the third time you've been tardy to my class. School only began three weeks ago. Even Mr. Potter and Mr. Black have managed to be on time." The strict looking Transfiguration teacher said as sixteen year old Lily Evans walked into her classroom fifteen minutes late. "I want to see you after class so we can discuss this matter further. Now take your seat."

"Yes Professor McGonagall. I'm sorry it won't happen again. I promise." The red haired girl with unique emerald green eyes said as she took her seat near the back of the large musty classroom.

"Good to hear it. Now where was I…oh yes…? Keep in mind when transfiguring…" McGonagall continued with her lecture on transfiguring common household items into trees and other horticulture.

'_This is going to be one of my bad days_,' Lily thought to herself as she settled down in her seat and got out the supplies she needed.

Double Transfigurations seemed to drag on for Lily. She found it difficult to take down notes during McGonagall's lecture. She did not have the patience or concentration for it that morning. And the constant whispering of her two best friends and snickering of the four _'annoying"_ boys, as Lily often referred to them, behind her, did not help either.

This was Lily's seventh and final year at Hogwarts, and it was turning out to be the most stressful for her. After this year Lily would be a fully educated and qualified witch, ready to enter the society of the wizarding world. However, the very thought of being on her own was terrifying. She was not ready for such a dramatic change in her life. She was very content with the way things were. She had the comfort of an unchanging routine.

But nothing ever stays the same for very long and Lily knew change would eventually follow her. Yet her life altering events were still at a distance, at least she had nine months until graduation.

When class finally ended, Lily stood up from her desk, grabbing her heavy bag from the stone floor and placing it on her shoulders. She headed up to McGonagall's desk to receive her punishment. She had already told her friends she would meet them down in the Great Hall after talking to the teacher.

"Professor let me just say how 'extremely' sorry I am for coming to class late and I am willing to accept any punishment you feel is necessary." Lily blurted out before McGonagall could get a word in.

Lily was never the type of girl to be late or even get in trouble. Any sort of rule breaking made her nervous and that's preciously how she felt right now.

She could already feel her legs turning to lead, her stomach was in knots and her hands were shaking so bad that she hid them out sight underneath the sleeves of her black school robes. Lily was amazed McGonagall had not said anything yet, whether it would be regarding her nervous state or the reason she was standing in front of the strict looking woman.

Here she was using all of her strength not to break down and cry while others like the Marauders did this more often than not. _How the HELL did the marauders do this every week?_

"Miss Evans…," McGonagall replied standing up from her chair behind her desk,"… is there something going on with you? You know you can come and talk to me any time, if you need help." McGonagall offered to her.

McGonagall's statement took Lily by surprise. She thought the severe-looking, middle-aged woman, who always kept her black hair tied back in a neatly placed bun and her green cat like eyes hidden behind a pair of square framed glasses had the ability to chase off the most foulest of beasts with one distasteful glare was more concerned about her than she was angry. Lily took several seconds, which seemed more like minutes, to decide on an answer for her concerned Head of House.

There was a long silent pause between them before Lily finally was able to speak properly again.

"Yes, Professor I'm aware of it and no there is nothing going on with me. I'm fine, nothing to worry about." Lily replied as she secretly wiped the sweat from her palms on the inside of her sleeves.

"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked her again, giving Lily the impression that her teacher did not believe her. Lily nodded her head making her long thick red ponytail bounce in agreement.

"Alright if you insist there is nothing wrong, I'm still going have to give you a detention. You are dismissed. I will send you a note with more information." McGonagall said as she released Lily from the meeting.

Lily left the classroom as quickly as she could; whispering thank you to her professor then hurried off to have what was left of the lunch in the Great Hall.

* * *

"How did it go with McGonagall?" the girl with waist length dark brown hair and stunning gray-blue eyes asked Lily as she sat beside her at the Gryffindor table.

"Not well. I'm stuck with a detention plus all the other things I have going on in my life. How does Potter and his band of trouble makers do this every week?" Lily said putting her head down on the table in front of her.

"I don't know, let's ask them shall we. HEY POTTER, BLACK I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU." The girl sitting to the right of Lily called down the table at two boys as she pulled her thick shoulder length black hair into a pony holder.

"Why'd you do that, Tem?" Lily whispered to her friend while keeping her head on the table.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" a deep male voice called. Lily was sure the answering voice was no other than Sirius Black.

"Because you asked a question and I am determined to get you an answer." The girl whispered back then yelling another comment down the table.

"COME HERE FOR A SECOND AND I'LL TELL YOU." Soon after her friend's reply, Lily heard shuffling and four sets of footsteps coming closer.

"Move down, make room." She heard her friends say to all the people sitting around them as they made room for four more people.

After they were settled in their new spots Sirius Black asked the question again "So what'd you want?"

"Lily here" her friend Tem (as Lilly called her) patted her on the back and continued, "as you know got a detention for coming into McGonagall's class late and she was just wondering what its like and how you guys can stand to get a detention week after week."

"Well it's a talent that only some can possess," Sirius Black said in a proud tone.

"Lily doesn't want to get into any more trouble. All she wants to do is get some tips or information on what to expect during her detention." Lily's friend to her left spoke up, which made Lily smile.

Lily sat there listening to every word but said nothing. She remained silent during the whole conversation with her head still down on the wooden table, waiting for the answer but making no effort to be included.

"It depends on who you get the detention with and what they want you to do. You could be doing anything from cleaning the toilets in the boy's loo or in Evans case the girl's loo with Professor Ori, to discarding of ancient ingredients in the potions storage room with Professor Calder. But in Evans' case it will probably be something really simple and won't take as long as our detentions usually do," James Potter explained.

"Hey maybe you'll get lucky Evans and one us might get a detention too. The day is still young and if you want some company with ya, anyone of us will be more than happy to oblige."

Lily finally lifted up her head from the table and stared directly into James' beautiful hazel eyes which were hidden behind thin black wire frame glasses. She could see why most girls found him handsome. His messy black hair, warm looking eyes and his rather tall but fit exterior (earned from all those years of playing chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team), was what made him one of the most sought-after guys in all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with his best friend Sirius Black.

The two boys looked similar in many ways and could pass as brothers. However, Sirius had tamable dark brown hair and dark gray eyes. Sirius also used his handsome exterior to his advantage while James spent most of his time chasing Lily.

"I think I could make it through the detention without company. I thank you for your kind suggestion but I prefer to get through this on my own," she said, picking up her book-bag from the floor and started to leave.

"Lily, where are you going? Our next class doesn't start for another half an hour," her brown haired friend replied.

"I forgot my book in my dormitory and I have to go and get it. I'll see you there," Lily said and went on her way out of the Great Hall.

* * *

"I wonder what's up with her," James said as he took a bite from his buttered bun.

"Oh nothing, she's just goes through these weird moods. She's been putting too much pressure on herself lately. Hey Ivory pass the bread and butter will ya," the dark haired girl said.

"Why has she been pressuring herself?" James asked with a hint of concern embedded in his deep voice.

"Why are you so interested in what Lily does, Potter?" the girl retorted with another question. She finished buttering a piece of her bread before dunking it in her pumpkin soup then taking a bite.

"I was just wondering. Isn't that allowed? Not everyone has to have a reason for being concerned," James said quickly in defense.

"I wasn't accusing you of anything James. Relax. I was just making an observation." The girl replied then took another bite of her bread. The other five people sitting around them had to hide their smiles for fear James would notice and do something irrational.

"I'm going to class, see you guys there," James said as he picked up his own bag off the floor from underneath the table and headed for the exit, leaving his friends wondering what had just happened.

* * *

James went to his next class before everyone else and was hoping to have some quiet time to think. As he entered Charms class expecting it to be empty since there was still fifteen minutes of lunch left, he was shocked to see Lily Evans sitting in the almost empty classroom.

She was sitting in her usual seat, just a row in front of where he and his friends sat reading a muggle book called _The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley (very good book and very good author)_. She did not even look up when he entered the room and took his seat right behind her.

Even though he wanted time to sit and think, James found the back of Lily's head to be a much more interesting pastime. He was admiring her long dark red locks wishing he could feel the softness of her hair on his fingers.

He knew she could feel his gaze on her but he did not look away. She looked up from her book and turned around and locking eyes with him. James felt a flip-flopping feeling in his stomach as their eyes stared at each other. Her beautiful green ones staring into his hazel ones, James wished that they could stay like that forever.

Yeah he had a crush on her. Hell he had had a crush on her since fourth year, but it seemed to be different now. Every time he looked at her and even when she looked back at him his heart would beat-faster. He hoped she felt something similar, even though she'd probably never show it.

She was not like most girls he knew. Sure she had her two best friends who were as loyal to her as the marauders were to him. And she was known around the school for her intelligence but also for her kindness. However, she was different in so many ways from the rest of the school. She did not try to fit in with other groups; she was very shy for being Head Girl. She was extremely serious and was not one to take jokes very well. But when it came to getting her point-of-view known, her meek side was no where to be found.

Lily and James had been on okay terms for almost two weeks; well they had not had a disagreement within that time span at least. Lily often disagreed with the practices, he and his counter band were involved in and it baffled her as much as it did James himself, why Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, picked James to be the Head Boy.

Of course, James was the smartest boy in the school, but his history of mischief making was legendary and he thought himself, to be the last person to be chosen for Head Boy. But when he received word by owl earlier on during summer vacation he was more then willing to accept such an honorary position. It did help that he would get to spend lots of extra time with the one girl he adored, even if she did not think much of him. It was something he was determined to work on.

"What are you staring at Potter?" Lily asked in the politest tone she could muster. James could tell her voice had a bit of annoyance.

"I was just thinking and I guess my eyes just happened to wander in the direction of your beautiful red hair," he flirted. He loved to set off her temper every once and a while. He figured it brought some excitement into her life.

"Flattery will get you no where with me," she replied as she returned to her book.

"Well that's not what I heard," he said in a teasing manner. He knew she would overact, she always did and that's half the reason why he bugged her so much.

"What have you heard? I'm sure whatever source you got that malarkey from was completely unreliable. No doubt from one of your misbehaving friends or gossiping fan club girls." She shot back at him without even looking up. James shocked by her reply knew the conversation was heading in a bad direction. But he didn't care. No one, not even the girl he was crushing on, was allowed to say anything about his friends.

"That was uncalled for and a little rude I might add. I was just joking Evans. Lighten up a bit will ya," James replied. He was becoming annoyed with her.

"Oh yeah and let jerks like you take advantage of me. I think not, besides I thought you enjoyed exchanging sarcastic comments. You and your friends seem to be in endless supply of them. Does it hurt you to know that a girl might actually be able to hold her own against the thoughtless ranting and ramblings of the great James Potter or does it annoy you, that I'm not captivated by your boyish charms like every other girl in this school?" Lily questioned in an innocent voice still not looking up at him.

"Yeah well maybe if you removed the stick you've got lodged up your ass and actually began to enjoy life then maybe you would be more observant with the things going on around you instead of always having your nose stuck in a book," he retorted once again drawing her attention away from her literature for a few moments.

She was about to reply to his remark when the class finally began to enter and Lily's friends sat on either side of her while James' friends sat in their usual seats around him.

Instead of any kind of verbal reply, Lily shot James a glare horrible enough to make a dragon run away with its tail between its legs, head hiding behind a wing.

James turned away from her and placed his attention on Professor Flitwick at the front of the class who was discussing the proper hand movement to perform a charm to clean up a messy area.

Throughout the rest of Charms class Lily kept throwing angry glares at James which he pretended not to notice.

Sirius, on the other hand, kept noticing the strange behaviour between the two of them and began to wonder what had happened between them before everyone else had entered the room.

**What happened between you and Evans before class?** Sirius wrote (in his untidy script) on a scrap piece of parchment and passed over to his best friend.

James looked at the note Sirius had written and wrote a quick response before sliding it back to him.

**None of your business **was what James had written back.

This reply did not satisfy Sirius one bit. If he could not get an answer from James he decided to get an answer from Lily by writing to her best friend.

**Hey Artemis, ask Lily what happened between her and James before class. I tried to get an answer from him but no go. He just told me to mind my own business. Can you believe it? What a nice best friend he is. Anyway try to get an answer out of her.**Sirius wrote the note on another scrap piece of parchment and tapped the black haired girl, who sat in front of him on the back. When she turned around he passed the note up to her.

**Why do you want to know and how do you know something happened?** The girl wrote back (in her orderly script) and passed the note back to him. After reading her message, Sirius was beginning to get aggravated because none of his questions were being answered.

**Isn't it enough that I am showing concern for our friends by wanting to know the important points in their lives?** He wrote back and passed the note back up to her. She read it over.

**Sirius, what you are calling concern for your friends, is what normal people call being nosy and I'm sure if James wants you to know he will tell you. Now stop bugging me and everyone else for that matter and pay attention to the lesson.** She wrote.

After reading her most recent message, Sirius could tell that he had just lost whatever battle was going on. He shook his head then tucked the parchment away in his bag and actually began to pay attention to what was left of Flitwick's lecture.

* * *

"So what happened between you and Potter before everyone else came in?" Artemis asked her friend as they walked out the door and down the corridor to the main staircase.

Artemis West, unlike Lily, did not spend a lot of her time reading books and doing homework. She preferred the more social aspect of school and enjoyed having an interesting social life. When school work needed to be done and a book or research needed to be read, she was usually on top of the situation but it did not define most of her life like it did Lily's.

Out of Lily and their other friend Ivory Greenly she was the wildest and most fun, however, she did have her own set of limits. She was the one out of the trio who tried to get the other two to have more fun and be outgoing. Her tactics worked most of the time on Ivory because Ivory was always up for fun as long as it was tasteful while Lily would be more than happy to curl up in a corner with a book and hear about it later.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily answered her friend as she avoided looking in her eyes and continued walking.

"You know exactly what I mean. Your avoidance of my question just gave you away. So spill it or I'll find a way to drag it out of you," Artemis replied.

"Yeah Lily tell us why you kept giving Potter mean looks throughout charms. Your glares sure didn't go unnoticed by the people around you and that includes Sirius Black." Ivory added her input.

"What do you mean my looks were noticed and how do you know Black noticed them?" Lily asked stopping in the middle of the corridor, causing her friends to stop as well.

"Black wrote me a note telling me to ask you what transpired between you and Potter. He wrote he asked James and James' told him it was none of his business. Then Sirius went on about how it was mean for James to write something so vulgar to him or some kind of nonsense along that line. So what was it that Potter did to make you mad? Is it something juicy? Did he try to kiss you or something?" Artemis inquired with a big smile flashing across her model like features.

Artemis was pretty enough to be a model but she wanted nothing to do with prancing around and getting her picture taken so she could have the privilege of being on the cover of a teen witch-wizard magazine.

Personally she found the idea horribly putrid and would shoot a disgusted look at anyone who wanted that kind of life. She might have had the looks for it, the perfect thin body, facial features, tanned completion and hair but she would rather fight a dragon than be on the cover of any magazine. If she was going to be famous she would rather do something noble and meaningful than have fifteen minutes of fame because of her beauty. Her friends for the most part agreed with her on the subject and she was more than content to have their support.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Tem. Any guy that would do such a thing would get more than nasty looks from me. He would get a swift kick in the-you-know-what, so hard that he wouldn't even be able to walk much less think of anything but the pain. Anyone who would suggest such a thing deserves the same fate." Lily said in a serious tone.

"Oh come on Lily don't be so uptight, relax, and joke around once in awhile. It can't be that much fun being a tight ass all the time?" Artemis said as she began to make her way towards the stairs again. Lily just stood there stunned by what her best friend had said.

The same statement had come from two different people in one day. It might not have been phrased the same way but the hidden meaning behind the words was the same and that worried her.

"Ivory am I that uptight?" Lily questioned her other best friend.

Ivory took a moment to think about the question before she finally decided to answer. "Well not all the time. I mean you've had at least one day of fun last year right?"

"I guess Tem is right. How can I stop doing something that is so natural to me though, Ive?" Lily said looking into her friends gray-blue eyes.

"Don't worry about what Tem or anyone else says, Lily. Just be happy being you," she replied and gave Lily a friendly squeeze around her shoulders before catching up to Artemis.

"Ivory, always the voice of reason" Lily said to herself then ran to catch up with the other two.

* * *

The rest of the day passed quickly for Lily and James. They both had come to an unspoken agreement as they sat down to dinner in the Great Hall shortly after Double Charms to leave each other alone for the rest of day at least.

Neither one of them had spoken of the incident (if you could really call it that) to anyone, not even their best friends. It's not that they did not want to discuss it; it's just they were both to angry to mention it.

All Lily could think about every time she looked in James' direction was how immature he could be. Yet in the back of her mind the words both he and Artemis had said stirred up something deep inside. And then she also had Ivory's words to think about.

'_Am I really THAT bad? Is my life THAT predictable and boring? It must be true if in less than one day two people say almost the exact same thing to me. But if its true then how do I change and why do I care what others think especially if those others are Potter and his trouble-making friends. Why should I change my life style to accommodate those around me? I'm happy and content with my life and I see no reason to change it. If Potter and his annoying friends or anyone else cannot stand me the way I am then that's their problem. I will not change for anyone unless I want to.'_ Lily finally decided with herself while finishing up her last bit of chocolate cake then headed up to her room to finish reading her book.

James had a similar battle brewing in his head. All he could think about while he was eating his third helping of chocolate cake was Lily's ability to trade comebacks with him. It was a quality very few girls had at Hogwarts and it did in fact shock the hell out of him that she could speak to him with such dislike. Yet do it in such a polite manner. What also got to him was the looks she gave him earlier which he pretended not to notice. It hurt him to know that he was one of the few (if not the only one) to ever receive such a look from the one girl he liked even more than playing quidditch.

These thoughts rolled over in his brain all the way through Charms, dinner and late into the night.

* * *

After dinner Lily sat in a scarlet and gold arm chair near the large stain-glass window of her room which she received for making Head Girl, finishing up the last chapter of her book. Both she and James had the privilege of having their own rooms separate from the other Gryffindor seventh years. Both the rooms were decorated with scarlet and gold colours, with the symbol of a lion, typical of any Gryffindor room.

Each room had a wooden-oak desk with a matching wooden chair and three matching dressers, a king-size scarlet and gold four-poster canopy bed and matching armchair. Lily's room however, had a full length mirror. They also shared a small common room which contained a scarlet and gold couch, arm chairs, wooden end tables, coffee-table and rather large bathroom.

"_Here in the Summer Country, where the ringstones shadow the mighty Tor and the promise of power remains, I await the outcome of the tale," (last paragraph in Marion Zimmer Bradley's book, The Forest House page 417). _

Lily had just finished reading the last paragraph before closing the cover and placing it on her desk. She stood up from her chair, made her way to the window and looked out at the darkening sky outside.

Soon after her change in position a knock and the sound of two giggling girls came from the other side of her bedroom door.

"Come in." Lily said knowing exactly who it was on the other side.

"How can you just say come in with out even asking who it is? For all you knew it could have been your worst nightmare." Artemis said opening the door and then closing it behind Ivory.

"My worst nightmare Tem is seeing you in the morning as you roll out of bed. Thank goodness I can avoid that image this year." Lily said in a joking manner to her friend then took up her seat in the armchair again.

"Hey, you don't look any better, so I wouldn't be talking, Missy. So what are you up to?" Artemis asked as she and Ivory each took a seat on Lily's neatly made bed. Artemis noticed everything in Lily's room was in place. "Man, do you have your own house-elf or something? When you were in the dorm with us, you were never this neat and orderly."

"No, I don't have my own personal house-elf; I just figured what's the point in keeping a messy room when there is no one around to share in the blaming for it." Lily responded. "And to answer your first question, I just finished reading my book a few minutes before you came in."

"That's good, now we can go and do something without interrupting you which was what Artemis first suggested." Ivory said joining in on the conversation.

"Afraid not girls, I have some projects to get started on. They are due in two weeks you know and I don't want to leave it until the last minute like some people." Lily said looking right at Artemis.

"Oh come on Lily, take a night off for once and let's go have some fun. We haven't done that in a while." Artemis suggested but Lily only responded by shaking her head no.

"Well then why don't we just stay in your room and have a good old fashioned girl talk. At least do something besides homework for one night." Artemis was almost begging her friend.

"Fine then, we'll stay here and talk. So what's on your mind?" Lily asked her friends as she crossed her legs and got ready for a long night of girl talk.

"I want to know…" Artemis started to say, giving a sly look over at Ivory before turning her attention back to Lily, "why you were so upset with Potter today? You have yet to answer my question."

Lily just sighed and began telling her friends the whole story about her and James arguing.

* * *

Meanwhile at the same time James was sitting on Sirius' bed in the seventh year boys dorm in Gryffindor tower, watching Sirius and Remus Lupin (another one of the marauders), and playing wizard's chess. Sirius was concentrating really hard on the board while James and Remus just looked on with humour.

"Padfoot, if you concentrate any harder, you might just end up hurting yourself. Your brain is not use to that kind of pressure," James laughed at his friend while Sirius shot him an angry glare.

"Be careful Padfoot, I don't think James needs anymore bad looks shot his way today. He got a lot of them from Lily already." Remus told Sirius, which made him perk up a bit and laugh but in return made James scowl.

"Yeah while were on the subject Prongs, why did Evans keep giving you those looks? You know I never listen to what you say anyway, bout me minding my own business, so spill it." James just shot them both a look of death before sighing and finally giving in. He knew he could never keep anything from his best friends big or little they had no secrets.

They had made this pact shortly after James, Sirius and their other friend Peter Pettigrew (who was not with them at that moment); found out Remus was a werewolf in second year. The three boys soon after learning this information began studying to become Animagus for the next three years and finally in their fifth year accomplished it and were able to transform into animals illegally.

James became a stag thus the nickname Prongs, Sirius became a huge black dog and received the name Padfoot and Peter became a rat getting the nickname Wormtail. If anyone ever found out the four boys secret, they would be expelled from Hogwarts and spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban (wizarding prison). In their animal form, however, was the only way the three boys were able to accompany Remus in his werewolf form (known as Moony) without the risk of getting injured or bitten.

The company of Remus' friends during the critical full moons was a god-sent. Without them, he would be locked up in his werewolf form. The transformation was painful enough without adding anymore injuries.

"We just had another disagreement. She started it and I ended it by telling her she was too up tight. I only spoke the truth and she is obviously too stubborn to want to hear it. It was nothing important, just another normal part of life," he said, "I think I'm going to head back to my room I have things to finish. Tell Peter goodnight for me."

He left his friends before they could object and headed off to his own room to get ready for bed and finish the homework he left until the last minute.

* * *

The next morning Lily was greeted by her friends as she sat down at Gryffindor table to eat breakfast. She had just started to eat her piece of toast with strawberry jam when a small brown barn owl flew down beside her plate. The owl stuck its tiny foot out for her to rid it of the letter tied to it.

Lily untied the letter then pulled off a piece of her toast and fed it to the owl before it took off again heading up to the school Owlery to sleep the rest of the day away.

Lily pulled off the bindings surrounding the parchment the letter was written on and began reading it:

_Dear Miss Evans_

_There is a Prefect meeting after dinner on Thursday night and you are to serve your detention with Professor Blithe in the Muggle Studies classroom Friday night at 7:00pm._

_Prof. M. McGonagall_

"What's that?" Artemis asked Lily as she folded her letter back up and placed it in her bag.

"Just the letter I've been dreading since yesterday morning. I have to serve my detention with the Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Blithe. This is not good what am I going to do? I've been given a detention with a Professor I don't know. Iv you took Muggle Studies last year, what is this Professor like?" Lily asked her friend in a whiny voice.

"I don't know. She's a new Professor and because I no longer take that class I have no idea what the teacher is like. Perhaps you could ask around. Artemis, isn't your younger brother Apollo taking it this year?" Ivory asked the girl sitting beside her.

"Yeah, but that means I actually have to socialize with the little rug rat and acknowledge that he exists." Artemis whined to her friends.

It was no secret to Lily and Ivory how Artemis felt about her younger brother. Ever since her brother came to Hogwarts four years prior, Artemis had pretended she was an only child. She refused to talk to her younger brother unless it was absolutely necessary. Lily and Ivory made sure they never brought up the subject of Artemis' brother unless they had to. Artemis did not hate her brother; she just disliked him with a great intensity. Lily and Ivory had no idea what caused the rift between the two but they were not going to ask either. It took Artemis two years to admit to them that she actually had a sibling.

"It won't kill you to talk to him at least once this semester. He's not that bad of a sibling and be happy that you ended up with your brother and not my sister," Lily scolded.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, fine I'll ask him for you." Artemis sighed finally giving into her friends.

"Thank you, Tem" Lily said smiling and giving her friend a hug. "Trust me I wouldn't care much if I was one of the marauders and got in trouble every time I turned around. But I'm not and therefore I care about who I'm dealing with when I am forced to do the first detention of my life."

"I just hope you don't plan on making this a habit or else the marauders might decide to make you a member." Artemis replied and laughed at the look on Lily's face.

"You don't have to worry about that Lily." Ivory said with reassurance. "Even if you started getting a detention everyday, for the rest of the year, you wouldn't come even close to the number of detentions; the marauders have landed themselves in since first year."

"I'm not even going to try. This detention is my first and last one. I can promise you that. I don't even like hearing my name associated with those juvenile delinquents. I mean Remus Lupin is not so bad and Peter Pettigrew you don't know he's there most of the time because he's so shy and quiet, but James Potter and Sirius Black set a bad example for the younger students. And James Potter amazingly is the Head Boy of the school." Lily said to her friends, "he sets the perfect example of what not to do for the first years." Lily was rambling on without even realizing it, but Artemis and Ivory sure did.

"Lily, why is it that every conversation the three of have had over the past few weeks, always ends up leading back to James Potter and how much you hate him?" Artemis questioned her friend but continued speaking not giving Lily a chance to reply. "I mean if you truly do hate the boy why are you so insistent on telling us the same thing everyday. Are you sure the only feelings you have for our Mr. Potter are strictly hatred and dislike or is our little Miss Evans hiding something from u…?"

"Hahaha! Finish that sentence and die," Lily said pointing her fork at her friend. "I don't like him and I never will. So get over this little obsession you have involving me and Potter because it ain't ever gonna happen."

"Okay, okay. God I was only joking. Don't get overly excited now." Artemis said her eyes glue to the fork in Lily's hand.

"What time is it?" Ivory asked her friends breaking up their argument.

"Um…shit…there's about five minutes until Herbology begins," Artemis said looking away from the fork and at her wristwatch. "We better hurry and get to class. I know I don't fancy getting a detention and I don't think Lily wants another one."

The other two nodded in agreement and stood up from the table grabbing their stuff and followed Artemis out of the Great Hall, through the front doors and down to the greenhouses to their first class of the day.

* * *

"What are you doing Evans?" James asked Lily as he approached the table she was sitting at in the library. Dinner had just finish an hour earlier leaving James the rest of the evening to get started on his homework.

"Well let's see, I'm sitting in a chair, at a table, holding a book between my hands in the school library. This of course must be some kind of sign or invitation for any jackass to come over and ask me what I'm doing." Lily answered sarcastically without even looking up from the page she was reading. "Just so you know, in case you couldn't figure it out on your own, you being simpleminded and all, I'm reading a book. This involves picking up one of those things that has a paper back or hard cover around lots of pages, which have words on them. They tell stories or have lots of useful information. Maybe some day soon you'll be able to read one that doesn't include pictures."

"The sarcasms been rolling off your tongue lately hasn't it Evans? I always figured you weren't as proper as you come off to be. It's actually a nice change from the little Miss Perfect act you got going. Makes you seem more real," James said.

"What do you want Potter? I highly doubt that you came over here without a purpose, so I suggest you say whatever it is you have to say and then move on quickly because if I have to look at that revolting thing you call a face for very long, I might just lose my dinner right here." Lily said this time looking him straight in the eyes.

The way she was looking at him (evening though she was insulting him) gave James butterflies. He found her to be beautiful even though she was being impolite.

"Well I think you look far from revolting Lily, you may not think the same thing right now but one day you will, I guarantee it. Anyway, down to business. Since we are both the Head students of the school and we are technically supposed to work together, I was thinking we can begin by doing our homework at the same table and maybe helping each other out if needed." James said smiling at her.

"What makes you think for one minute, I want my peace and quiet interrupted by a buffoon whose idea of homework includes an explosion not far behind? Besides why would you need my help, I'm sure one of your partners in crime would be more than willing to give you it. What makes me the lucky candidate?" she asked noticing him shift the shoulder strap of his obviously heavy bag.

"You're beautiful and bright. I figured out of the goodness of my heart I would let you help me with my charms work and I would be more than happy to lend a hand with your transfigurations homework," he told her.

"I don't think so. I can mange my homework fine without your help. So move along. Go and find one of your fan club members, I'm busy." Lily said to him waving her hand at him to leave and returning her attention back to the newest book she was reading.

"What would you say if I told you there was no where else to sit in the library without getting distracted by the people talking?" he asked knowing he would get his way.

"Fine, you can sit down but stay on the other side of the table and don't say anything to me." Lily said finally giving into him and grabbing her school books out of her bag.

James sat down on the opposite side of the table from her and took out his own books, rolls of parchment, quill and began working in silence on his charms essay which was due in a week.

"Hey James, Lily," an average looking short stature girl with short brown hair and brown eyes greeted the two Head students. She was one of Sixth year Ravenclaw Prefects.

"Hi" both Head students said at the same time.

"What are you doing over here by yourselves? Why don't you two come and join me. There is a group of us over behind the historical section." She said while looking directly at James and smiling. "Back there we can talk at a normal tone or basically do whatever we want without Madame Pince, roaring at us for talking to loud and being distracting for others. All this silence has got to be frustrating."

"I don't know…" James said looking around the library trying to pin point where this group of people were.

"I think I'll just stay here, Kora, thanks for asking. But…" Lily began looking at James with a smug expression on her face "… James would love to join you I'm sure. Isn't that right James?"

"Um…" was all James could say. He was caught off guard by Lily's suggestion. He did not want to leave the quiet and comfortable spot he was already at not to mention this was the only chance he had gotten to actually talk much less be around Lily Evans without it breaking out into an argument.

"…um, I think I'll have to pass this time. It's quiet here and I have some assignments due tomorrow, I need to get done. You know me, leave everything to the last minute," he said to the girl telling her a half truth, "maybe some other time."

"Okay," Kora said as the smile dropped to a frown, "I'll talk to you two later." She left the two Head students sitting at their table in silence.

Lily looked at James with a knowing look before returning to her homework.

James was concentrating but kept getting the distinct feeling someone was staring at him. The feeling made him uneasy but he did not look up to see who it was coming from. He did not want to get distracted from his homework any more than he had too. After all, this was his last year at Hogwarts and he had to do good since he was Head Boy and a role model to all the other students of the school. He also had the N.E.W.Ts (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) to look forward to at the end of the year.

Finally annoyed, he looked up from his homework when his eyes met a pair of emerald ones belonging to Lily. She had a huge grin plastered across her face as she stared back at him.

"Why are you smiling at me? Could it be true, Lily Evans has finally come down from her high horse and is realizing the truth that she is in love with me, a mere mortal?" James questioned her in a teasing way but he was also smiling back at her. He knew she was not smiling at him because she fancied him. The smile she had on her face, suggested she knew a secret and was debating about whether or not to tell him.

"No. That thought is absurd. I haven't and will never have any feelings for you other than loathing you with a great intensity." She explained to him in an offended tone. He could tell just by the way her statement came out, she didn't really mean what she was saying even if she had not comprehended it yet.

"Then why were you smiling at me?" James questioned her again.

"Because, I just find it amusing how blind you can actually be." She answered him then began looking over the paragraph she had just written moments before.

"What do you mean by that Evans? I think the glasses I wear, prove I don't have perfect vision like you." He said offended not grasping the true meaning behind her words.

"I wasn't speaking in literal terms Potter. What I meant was you were too blinded to see that Kora was hoping you would join her and her friends. You didn't pick up on the hints she was dropping." Lily explained to him, while trying to hide her giggles.

"She wasn't dropping any hints. If someone's blind here, it's you Evans." James retorted becoming upset.

"Boys are unbelievable." Lily muttered to herself rolling her eyes. "She sure wasn't looking at me when she invited us to join her with a dreamy look on her face. You're the only other one sitting at this table, unless there's an invisible person sitting beside you that only I can't see."

"Are you hallucinating Evans or…" James stopped and smiled at her before continuing his sentence, "… are you using her as cover because you don't want to give yourself away?"

"Dream on Potter," Lily said with a sigh, "there is no way in hell that I would ever like you. So I suggest you get over this little annoying infatuation you have with me and move on. I have to go. I would probably get more done in my room than sitting here debating nonsense with someone who has less of an I.Q. than a slug."

Lily excused herself as she gathered up all of her books, writing utensils, placed them in her bag and headed for the exit of the library. James just smiled, watching the girl of his dreams walk out of the library before returning again to his forgotten essay.

* * *

James woke up late the next morning with a horrible headache, stiff back, piece of parchment stuck to his cheek and a puddle of drool all over his large oak desk.

He let out a big yawn and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he attempted to sit up properly in his desk chair. He looked around taking in his surroundings. It took him a minute to finally understand why he was still sitting at his desk in his school robes from the day before and not laying in his bed. He had fallen asleep at his desk after finishing up his potions assignment and began work on his Muggle studies homework which was due in three hours. Not to mention the school day had began two hours ago. The week seemed to be going by slower than ever and there was still two days left until the weekend.

James looked at his wristwatch and groan. It was still early in the day and he just did not seem to have the energy to go anywhere beside his nice warm bed for a better sleeping position. The only question left was whether or not he should go back to sleep and just forget about his homework and school for the rest of the day or to get ready for it.

_What should I do? I could go to school and be miserable and tired or I could just crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the day away. But if I do that then what do I tell my teachers tomorrow? However, I probably could do with a day off considering I have had a lot to do these past three weeks with Head Boy duties and organizing and training the Quidditch team since I am the Captain. Yeah I can just get everything from Sirius or Remus later and hand in my homework tomorrow or the day after. _

James finally decided sleep would be a much better option than going to class. So he changed into his sleep wear and climbed under the scarlet and gold covers of his nice warm bed and drifted off to sleep within minutes.

The rest of the school day passed rather quickly and before James knew it his peaceful sleep was interrupted by a knock on his door. He rolled over in his bed after hearing the knock, not wanting to get up from his comfortable position. He hoped that whoever was on the other side would eventually get the hint and go away.

After a few minutes of knocking, the person finally stopped to James' relief. But as soon as he turned over and closed his eyes again, his door opened with aloud squeak able too raise the dead and someone jumped hard onto his bed, making him jolt up.

"Time to get up Prongsie," Sirius said to James as he made himself comfortable on the bed.

"What the hell do you want Sirius?" James mumbled from under his pillow.

"Hey Mr. Grumpy, I've just come to see if you were still alive. Isn't it nice of me to show concern for my best friend who didn't come to any classes." Sirius answered in a whiny voice.

"Great, now that you know I'm alive, you can leave." James said with his head still buried under his pillow.

"Why would I do a silly thing like that?" Sirius asked pulling off the pillow.

"Because…" James answered grabbing it back from his friend and then placing it in its rightful spot at the top of the bed and turning back to Sirius, "… I'm trying to sleep. Now get out."

"You've got some bad-manners Prongs. What, no please or thank you? Who the hell taught you them?" Sirius said still keeping his light-hearted tone.

"I learned everything from only one blockhead. Any guess on who he is…" James replied sarcastically staring at Sirius before continuing, "… I'll give you a hint. He's in my room, sitting on my bed, annoying the shit out of me."

"You don't mean me do you?" Sirius asked.

"Ding, ding. I think we have a winner. Your prize is to leave me alone." James answered.

"Gssssss James did something crawl up and latch on to your ass last night? Whatever side of the bed you woke up on this morning was the wrong one. I think you should try the other one." Sirius answered getting angry himself, "I'll come back when my best friend returns."

"Good" was James' only reply.

Sirius made his exit known by slamming the door shut on his way out James gave a simple grunt and turned back over, placing his pillow once again over his head and falling into another peaceful sleep.

However, his sleep did not last long. No more than a half an hour later he was woken up yet again by another knock the door. Only this time the knock was much gentler than Sirius usually banging.

The gentle knocking persisted for a few minutes until James finally got up to answer it.

"WHO THE HELL IS IT NOW AND WHY ARE YOU BUGGING ME?" He yelled as he opened the door to find Lily standing there looking about as confused as he felt.

"I….I…see, I've caught you at a bad time," she stuttered a bit before gaining control over her words again, "I should go."

"N…no …um…it's just a surprise to see you standing at my door. That's all. What are you doing here?" He asked trying to keep her from going.

"I just came by to give you the homework from today, since you weren't in class," she answered.

"Ahh! So you came here out the goodness of your heart?" James asked smiling an evil grin.

"No, I figured you wouldn't get the assignments or information without me telling you. And as Head Girl I felt it was the proper thing to do." Lily answered in a dignified voice wiping the smile right off his face. "Here you are. We have a test in Care of Magical Creatures next week and everything else is written down."

"How nice of you," he said taking the homework from her, "to take time out your busy schedule to come and see those lower than yourself. I mean it must be hard for you to make time for others. Thank you, your highness."

James bowed to her then shut the door on a confused Lily Evans before throwing the parchment in his hands down on his desk and crawling back into bed.

Forcefully his door was pushed opened and slammed shut for the second time that day, as Lily walked in to his room approaching the side of his bed with her arms crossed.

James could tell she was mad because the colour of her face almost matched her hair and her green eyes stared at him in a cold way. This look made him feel unsafe around her.

"Ever heard of knocking, it's more polite than just barging in on people." James yelled sitting up in his bed.

"That might be true, but it's no more polite than slamming the door in someone's face." Lily replied dryly. "Just explain to me one thing, James Potter, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I didn't have to bring you anything but I knew none of your friends would. None of you probably know the meaning of the word homework."

"SHUT UP EVANS," James yelled, his patience running thin. "You know nothing about me and my friends. By the way no one asked you to bring me anything. You probably would never think twice about it if you weren't Head Girl am I right?"

"First of all Potter, your grammar needs work. The sentence should be my friends before me and second, I don't need to justify my actions to you or anyone else. You should be happy I actually thought about you, but I can guarantee you, I won't make that mistake again." Lily retorted back.

"Get out of my room Evans. I'm tired of this senseless bickering. If you want to continue with it I'll have to get back to you." James said turning his back on her. But Lily did not listen to him, she did not leave. Instead she moved closer to him, rather then further away.

"What's wrong anyway? Why'd you miss classes?" She asked him in a softer tone.

"Well isn't this new, Evans actually is showing concern for me," he muttered to himself but loud enough for her to hear. "Does this mean you really care?"

"Of course I care for the well being of a fellow student. Besides, it's unlike you to miss a day of classes, not counting your record of been late. So what's the matter?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired. I was up late last night finishing the assignments due today. I don't even know when I fell asleep. I woke up at my desk this morning after school had already begun," he explained looking at her. Cautiously she sat on the far side of his bed.

"Yeah, I know what that's like. So why did sleeping in late stop you from going to the rest of your classes? I mean it never stopped you before?" Lily questioned letting her worry for him show.

James had to smile at the situation. Here sitting beside him, on his bed, was Lily Evans, the most complex girl he had ever met. A girl who would rather face her worst fear (which was spiders), than show anyone (except her friends), her vulnerable side. He liked that she could show some kind of emotion towards him.

"I don't know I just needed a break I wasn't feeling the greatest when I woke up drooling on my homework." he said making Lily smile as she tried to hide it with her hand. "Is that a smile I see on Lily Evans lips? Did I actually make you laugh? Holly shit I think the world is coming to an end."

"No I'm not laughing; I just think it's funny." She replied in defense.

"Well let me ask you a question, since we are being civil to each other for the moment." James said to her.

"Fine, go ahead. Just as long as it's tasteful and nothing moronic," Lily responded.

"Okay, I want to know why you were late on Monday to McGonagall's class. You are never late nor absent. Also Artemis mentioned you were pressuring your self a lot lately. Why?" He asked her the questions which had been plaguing him for the past few days.

"It's not a big deal. I was late because like you I stayed up most of the night on Sunday and woke up ten minutes before class Monday morning. It's nothing serious. Just the same old boring things," she answered getting up from his bed.

"Why are you pressuring yourself?" James asked her again.

"Look my life is no concern of yours and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't worry about me. I should go. Don't forget the Prefect meeting tomorrow." She said making her way to her door.

"Lily wait why won't you answer the question?" James asked her before she had a chance to leave.

She turned to look at him one last time, "Don't pry in others lives Potter. If I wanted you to know I would tell you, but that's not the case, so I suggest you drop the subject. Goodbye." She said with a hint of anger pushing through her voice then opened the door and left.

James laid on his bed in confusion. _What the hell just happened?_ One minute he and Lily were being civil to each other and the next moment she blew up at him storming out like always. The only difference this time was that James had no idea what he had done to make her mad. Whatever the reason he had not done it on purpose.

"Merlin, why are girls so difficult?" He yelled out to no one, it had been a long day for him even though he had gone no where and by the look of things; tomorrow was not going to be any better. With that James turned over onto his stomach and did the one thing he had wanted to do all day and had done for most of it, sleep.

* * *

"Hey Evans looks like we're sharing a detention together." Sirius said to Lily as he put his arms around her shoulders at breakfast the next day.

"Oh lucky me," she replied shrugging him off.

"What'd you do to get a detention for this time, Sirius" Artemis asked him as he took the seat beside Lily.

"Out late last night," he said loading food onto his plate then pouring himself some pumpkin juice.

"What were you doing?" Ivory asked before realizing who she was talking too.

"Well meet me in the Astronomy tower tonight and I'll show you." Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows at the brown haired girl.

"Um…I'd rather not," she answered blushing.

"Suit yourself." Sirius said shrugging it off and stuffing his face with food. Artemis and Ivory just looked at him with disgust as they watched the seventeen year old boy stuff large amounts of food into his mouth and swallowing it with great difficultly.

"Oh great," Lily mumbled and rested her head in her right hand.

"What? What's the matter?" Artemis questioned looking away from Sirius to Lily.

"Nothing to panic over Tem, its just that Potters coming over." Lily moaned, "I really don't feel like getting into another row with him."

"Yeah, you two have really been at each others throats lately, one fight after another." Ivory commented while buttering herself a new piece of toast.

"We all knew it was coming sooner or later. I mean you and Potter made it almost three weeks without a verbal disagreement. That's got to be a new record by the way, and we knew it was bound to happen. It just ended up becoming a daily ritual the past four days." Artemis explained then took a drink from her goblet full of pumpkin juice.

"There is an easy solution to this problem." Lily said.

"Oh yeah, and what pray-tell is that?" Sirius asked while chunks of his breakfast flew out of his mouth, making the three girls groan with repulsion.

"Mind chewing your food before speaking Sirius, not everyone here wants your breakfast spit at them this early in the morning and I'm sure it might do wonders for the lack of manners you seem to be missing." Artemis told him while handing Sirius a napkin to clear up his mess. "You were saying Lily"

"Yeah, well the best way to solve my predicament is avoidance. The less I see of him the happier I'll be." She said standing up from her seat at the Gryffindor table and looking at her friends, "Talk to you guys later, I want to go study for our History of Magic test."

Lily's friends just nodded in agreement and continued eating, only mumbling a "see ya later", "um-huh", and in Sirius' case "we have a test today." Lily just giggled at her friends then turned from the table, only to bump into someone and falling down on top of them.

"I'm sorry." Lily apologized getting up off the person, and not realizing who they were.

She stood up, dusted herself off then looked up to see if they were all right but noticed it was the one person she did not want to see.

"Man Evans, I knew you wanted me but I didn't think it was that bad. I knew you would fall for me one day." James teased after getting back up and gently hitting her on the shoulder grinning, what Lily thought, was his stupid arrogant grin.

"You only wish Potter." Lily said hitting him back and actually making it hurt. James' only reply to the punch was a yelp of pain with his other hand rubbing his now throbbing left shoulder.

"Damn Evans that hurt. Where the hell you learn to hit, a non-magical duel?" James asked in shock while still rubbing his bruised shoulder.

"Well at least it got your attention. Oh and Potter the next time you plan on any physical contact involving me, I would be more careful because next time I won't aim for a decent body part, if you catch my drift." Lily said smiling then walked past him slamming her shoulder into him with force and leaving her two friends and his best friend rolling with laughter on the floor.

"Merlin…I didn't- know girls-could hit like that….Evans sure has an arm on her… James you should have seen your face…when she hit you back-it was priceless. I won't forget it, as long as I live. Geeessssss, where's a camera when you need it….I…. can't stop….laughing….It's just too…funny….hahahahahahaha….ouch….my side it hurts…too…much too…breathe…" Sirius managed to get those words out through all his rolling around and laughing.

James just glared at his best friend. Sirius was too busy laughing to notice.

"Nice friend you are Padfoot, I wouldn't laugh if a girl embarrassed you in front of the whole school," James whined then took Lily's vacant seat.

"If I recall correctly Prongs, you laughed your ass off when Sarah Kendall slapped me and called me a pig in front everyone in the great hall, last year. Remus, Peter and you, couldn't stop for a whole week." Sirius replied in defense gaining his composure.

"Sirius, she did that because you are a pig. We weren't laughing at you, we were laughing with you. The only problem is you failed to see the humour of the situation." James snickered as Sirius sent a scowl his way.

"Shut up," was all Sirius could reply. He turned away from his best friend and began talking to a girl sitting beside him.

James just shrugged and turned his attention to the plate in front of him, which was still empty. He started loading it with all the food he could fit, and began stuffing his face without taking the right amount of time to chew.

"Merlin, James slow down, I don't think the food is going to get up and walk off your plate. You can chew it properly. What is it with boys, food and no manners?" Artemis said to him, with a look of disgust and amazement plastered on her face.

"Where's the fun in that?" James asked her before taking a quick drink from his goblet, then returned to scarf down more breakfast.

"There might not be any fun in it, but at least you don't run the risk of choking," she informed.

"Oh well, I like doing dangerous things rather then safe ones," James answered back. Artemis rolled her eyes ignoring him through the rest of breakfast.

When breakfast finished, the four remaining Gryffindors, got up from their table and headed to their first class of the day, most of them unprepared for the History of Magic test.

* * *

James heard the banging of the gabble on the desk as he quietly slipped into the prefect meeting two minutes late, slowly making his way up to the front of the lounge where the Head Girl and Boy began the meetings.

"This week's Prefect Meeting is called to order," Lily said loudly, her voice ringing with power.

"Is there any business that needs to be brought up before we get on with this week's issue?" All the prefects shook their heads no and waited for their Head Girl to continue.

"Good," Lily said then continued, "Now it has come to my attention, the bullying of the first years has become a problem among the older students. Apparently, older students of this school seem to think, initiation is a proper form of welcome and thus, are torturing the first years by doing things like magically untying there shoelaces, stealing their books or pointing them in the wrong direction. I was asked by our Headmaster, to try and prevent these incidences from happening or continuing. I ask for all of your co-operation in putting a stop to the first year initiation, and if anyone in this room is caught doing anything of the sort, will be striped of their badge and punished severely."

"Is there anything, you wish to add James?" Lily asked politely, looking in his direction. James could tell by the way Lily was looking at him she was mad because of his late appearance.

"Um…no, I have nothing to add," James said quickly then turned away from her staring eyes.

"Well then, meeting adjourned, you are dismissed." Lily said then banged the gabble on the desk again. James hurriedly made his way through the chatting Prefects to the door, hoping he could avoid a confrontation with the very pissed off Head Girl. But luck was not on his side at that moment.

"James, I need you to stay behind. We need to prepare for next week's meeting." Lily called to him over the retreating Prefects in the sweet tone she used to address other people that were not him.

James let out a frustrated sigh, turned away from the door and made his way back over to Lily, who was clearing away some rogue parchment on the table she had used to conduct the meeting.

"So what's there to prepare for next week?" James asked her in a-some-what causal tone. He knew Lily was going to give him an earful and was just waiting for her to begin yelling at him, which she never did. Instead, she continued straightening up the Prefect's Lounge pretending he was not there.

There was a long silent pause between the two Head students, before James finally gave in and repeated his previous question, "Um Lily, what was it you needed help preparing for next week?"

He still received no reply from her. "Well, since you refuse to answer me, I'm not going to stay in here and continued to be ignored." James said to her and again started making his way to the exit.

"You know, I wouldn't doubt it if you're the worst Head Boy this school has ever had. You're action sure prove how you feel about this position. I really never expected anything from you so I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to finish and I can get them done better on my own." Lily said to him in the calmest voice she could muster in his presence while pointing a finger to the doorway issuing him to leave before sitting down in the chair at the one of many desks in the room, with her quill in hand and a blank piece of parchment in front of her.

James stood there, rooted to the spot. He was at a loss for words and struggling with the decision whether to listen to Lily and leave or actually stay and help her even though he knew she was opposed to the idea. _Was she right? Was he the worst Head Boy? She was truthful when she said he did not show how grateful he was to be Head Boy. But he thought her words were more hurtful than they needed to be._

"Look Lily, I want to help you," James said walking over to the desk where Lily was working.

"You're still here Potter?" Lily stated more than questioned. "What makes you think I want your help? I've been doing enough work for the both of us for three weeks now and not once have you offered assistance. No thank you, if I got through three weeks without you, the rest of the year should be a breeze."

"I never offered help to you because you never asked," James said now getting frustrated. This was getting ridiculous and Lily (in James' opinion) was being very stubborn. "Not once since the semester began have I even heard a peep out of you requesting me tohelp you. If you would of only asked…"

"I shouldn't have to ask the Head Boy of Hogwarts to help me; it is your responsibility to do it without being told." Lily said interrupting him continuing on again before he had a chance to disrupt her. "You were chosen to be Head Boy and even though your ego is bigger than most, you still have obligations and you should commit to them without someone telling or asking you too."

James' only answer was a sigh of both defeat and aggravation. There was nothing he could say to counter Lily's argument and he knew it. She had won yet another battle and he could do nothing about it. All he could do was admit it. "Your right Lily, I should be more responsible and I promise I will try to be in the future. Now please let me help you."

Lily almost fell out of her chair at James' words. _Was that actually James Potter saying them or was there a ventriloquist conducting this change in their conversation._ She found it really hard for James Potter to offer his help as freely as he did or even to admit he was wrong. There had to be a reason behind it. _What would make him admit to anyone he was wrong? It was a once IN a lifetime thing. However, she was unsure if she had even heard him right._

"What…..what did you say? Did you just admit I was right then agree to be more responsible? Are my ears playing tricks on me?"

"You don't have to be that dramatic," James said taking the seat across from her.

"Yes I do. It's not everyday James Potter, King of Hogwarts, shows any other side of his personality other than his arrogance. I have to be sure about the sincerity behind your words." Lily said teasingly while at the same time being serious.

"Are you sure about it? Do you think I am being sincere?" James asked hoping she would say what he wanted to hear. Hoping she believed him and their constant quarreling would finally come to an end after four days.

Lily did not answer for a few minutes taking the time to think about her answer carefully. She knew he was being honest but she just wanted him to suffer for awhile and make him wait for her answer as long as she could.

"Well, I guess you couldn't look anymore pathetic if you weren't being truthful. So I believe you. Now if you are going to help me then I need your undivided attention." Lily said as she moved from her original seat to one closer to James.

She placed the parchment she was using in front of both of them and got out an extra quill from her bag for James to use.

"So what do we have to do?" James asked looking over the point-form writing on the parchment in front of them. It was already full of scribbles from Lily writing and rewriting ideas which had come to her.

"We have to come up with ideas on how to decorate the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast and also maybe plan out a few activities to keep the younger children satisfied while the third years and up are at Hogsmeade that day." Lily answered while rereading her ideas then continued crossing more out.

"Umm Lily none of the other Heads ever planned activities for the younger years or even decided to decorate the Great Hall for that matter. The teachers and Hagrid do those things and I think they do a fine job. Why make more work for ourselves?" James pointed out to her.

Lily sighed at his question, not because she was frustrated with it but more so because he was right. _Why make more work for them if it does not need to be done?_ However, she thought about it for a few minutes and came to the decision she was not making more work for herself or the others, she was merely trying to differentiate herself as Head Girl from those in the past_. 'What was wrong with being slightly more ambitious then the past Head students of the school?'_

"I figured the school was due for a bit of change is all. Besides, every Halloween the school is decorated in the same way and when the rest of the student body is in Hogsmeade for the day, nobody even gives a second thought about what the first and second years might do for fun. Naturally I decided I would have their best interests at heart and prepare an exciting day for them while the rest of the years are off enjoying themselves with pigging out and shopping."

"Isn't that kind of you? Exactly how do you plan to pull this off Miss Evans? I mean you will of course be enjoying yourself in Hogsmeade as well, who will be setting up these activities and then supervising the younger students? None of the Prefects will want to stay behind to do it." James again pointed out to her making her rethink her plan.

"Well I suppose after I bring up the topic with the Headmaster, he will be more than willing to suggest one of the faculty members to get my plan in full swing. He will probably be happy I have actually thought about the younger years and might actually be willing to do so himself. As for the decorating we could get co-operation not only from the faculty but the Prefects as well and can do so before breakfast." Lily said secretly admitting to herself of how brilliant she actually was and how well thought out her ideas were coming to her in mere seconds. "We just have to plan these events to the fullest before bringing them to Professor Dumbledore."

"Okay I'll help you out since you seem so determined to do this," James' replied smiling his arrogant grin in Lily's direction. Lily did not find his smile so repulsive this time around; actually she found it to be charming without his extra egoistical attitude behind it. She was happy James could be more than what his reputation perceived him to be.

"Thanks for your help. It only took me ten minutes to convince you to lend a hand. Oh well now that you agreed to do so, there is no getting out of it so we should get going on it." Lily said smiling back at him as she wrote yet another idea onto the piece parchment in front of her.

* * *

Two hours later James and Lily sitting in the same place in the Prefect lounge had come up with a full plan and instructions for executing it on Halloween.

They were prepared for just about every possible catastrophe imaginable which might occur for the first and second years fun filled day. The decorating of the Great Hall however, was not as easy to arrange.

"What if we talk to Dumbledore about serving only healthy food at the feast? Have the house elves create the dishes to be tasty but without all the candy and sweets. It would be better for everyone and a change from the usual Halloween feast." Lily suggested looking skeptical about her idea.

"Do you honestly think Dumbledore would go for a sweet free Halloween? He is one of the biggest muggle sweet lovers around. That's like suggesting Christmas without presents. None of the students or even the faculty will be to keen about the idea. They won'treact well to it," James said while shaking his head no.

"It was only a thought. I didn't expect it to be considered but I have to cover all aspects, after all I am Head Girl." Lily said in an annoyed tone which disappear as soon as the words left her mouth.

"You're the Head Girl, of Hogwarts?" James said, his statement dripping with sarcasm. "Wow, I guess people do learn something new everyday. I can't believe I finally have the opportunity to meet you. Can I have your autograph?" James pushed a spare piece of parchment across the desk with her quill lying on top of it and giving her a puppy-dog eyed look.

You could tell the Head students had been hard at work by the condition of the Prefect lounge. The desk, which was clear when they sat down, was now littered with crumpled up balls of parchment. The floor did not look much better.

It did not help when they took a small break to have a paper fight, the reason why the floor looked like a battlefield.

This was the first time Lily had actually enjoyed being in the presence of James for more than a few minutes, without having their friends or anyone else around to interfere with their slowly blossoming acquaintanceship. It was too early to say they were friends but they were at least getting along for the moment. Of course they exchanged sarcastic comments but something about sitting, in a room by themselves seemed to allow them the freedom to have an easy-going attitude about it.

"Hahaha! Very funny! Stop goofing off so we can finish this." Lily said trying to conceal her smile from James. She had to admit the look he was giving her was cute, even though it was coming from an arrogant jerk. She found it nice he was not being a _'self-centered, egoistical, chauvinistic, imbecilic idiot.'_

"I will as soon as you sign your name for me. Come on I want to be able to say, 'I knew Lily Evans when she wasn't famous,'" James said prodding her give him her signature.

"Fine, I'll sign it for you but don't expect me to remember you when I'm famous," she joked then picking up the quill signing the parchment with her neat and loopy signature, Lily Evans, then slid the page back to James.

"Thanks, I'll treasure this forever," James replied holding it close to his chest and giving her a teasing dreamy look before laughing and stuffing it into his bag. "Well let's finish the planning shall we?"

"Mmmm!" was the only reply Lily gave, as she sat there in a daze for a few minutes before finally letting out a huge sigh. "Maybe we should just leave it alone. I mean it looks amazing how they decorate it every year anyway. Why should we interfere with tradition?"

"Another shocker," James said trying to look surprised, "Evans is actually not going to try and change something or interfere with it. You're full of surprise tonight aren't you?"

"You're one to talk Potter; I'm not the only surprising one in this room." Lily said as she playfully shoved him then got up from her seat and went to sit down on one of the brown couches.

"Someone finally penetrated my over-sized head. So I have no choice but to surprise you, hell I'm even surprising myself." James said taking the seat on the couch beside her.

"Well the person who managed to get something to sink into your rather enormous head must be nothing short of a miracle worker," Lily said.

"Um…what's a miracle worker?" James asked Lily. Lily could do nothing but let out a giggle when she saw the very confused look on his face. _How could she have forgotten?_ He was from one of the oldest and purest wizarding families in England and therefore had little or no recollection of muggle things and phrases.

However, the thought still made her laugh because even though she was a Muggle-Born witch and she understood both the wizarding world and muggle world, she still found it funny that predominate families like James' knew very little about the world she grew up in.

"Miracle worker is a phrase used for when something impossible becomes possible by a person," Lily explained still trying to stifle her giggles.

"Interesting," was the only reply James' could give. He was still a little confused but it did not seem important to him to explore the topic any further. The truth was he really did not care. He was more interested in sitting there with Lily then learning about different muggle phrases. Maybe sometime in the distant future he would care more but that was not now and so he searched his brain for another topic for them to talk about instead.

"Since we are sort of on the topic anyway, how was it growing up with a muggle background and then one day all of a sudden finding out you're a witch and different from the rest of your family?" James asked her. That was a question he had always wanted to ask a Muggle-Born witch or wizard but never wanted to sound rude about asking someone such a personal question. He was not even sure Lily would answer him but hell at least he took a shot and asked, even if she gave him a vague or no response at all.

"Well, I suppose it was similar to how you grew up, the only differences is I grew up without the knowledge of magic until I was eleven and you grew up knowing about it. I don't know what there is to explain and I really don't feel like getting into a discussion with you about the difference of growing up with and without magic. There is just too much to go through," Lily explained to James. It was not that she did not want him knowing about her past, no it had nothing to do with that. There was just too much to explain to him because he did not grow up in a muggle house hold and everything she would mention, for example a television set, James would either know absolutely nothing about it or would have only heard about.

"That is true. I probably wouldn't understand most of the things you describe to me. I don't get how muggles can live without magic, it just seems like an impossible feat to me but still it does sound fascinating to learn about. However, I can barely sit through muggle studies." James said agreeing with her.

It was nice for them to be getting along for a change and it was a bonus for James because he was sitting across from, in his opinion, the most beautiful and smartest girl in the school and maybe even in the entire world, having a friendly conversation. This was indeed a rare occasion and he was trying his best not to say something that would offend her or make her upset. So far his efforts were working. She seemed content with them talking and from what James could tell she had no objections to any of the topics they were discussing.

"What's your family like?" James asked Lily, hoping he was not being to bold asking about something which was none of his business.

"Why are you so interested?" Lily questioned instead of answering him.

"We never really had the opportunity to get to know each other, you know us not being civil and all, so there's no better time than the present to get out everything we want to know about the other person. Besides, its better conversation topic than, so what do you want to talk about? Don't you think?" James answered while shifting to a more comfortable position.

"I guess that is a reasonable request. It's not like I'm going to tell you my whole life story so a little mention about my home life should not be too bad. Well, my family is similar to everyone else's family I assume. My parents have been married for twenty-seven years and they are still madly in love and I have one sister who is two years older. I'm sure your family life is more exciting than mine." Lily said to James as she too shifted to a better position and still able to talk to him without the sound of her voice getting all muffled.

"Why would my family life be interesting? My parents have been married forever, they travel and work a lot so I don't get to see them too much and I am an only child, well that was until Sirius moved in over the summer. Now I have to share everything with him. Trust me it is not fun going from an only child to having a brother in a short time, especially when he is six months older," James complained in a whiny voice and crossed his hands over his chest as if he were a six year old who did not get the toy he wanted.

'_Poor baby,'_ she thought sarcastically '_he has to share things with someone else for a change. It must be extremely hard for him_.' Lily was never one to give sympathy for children who came from only child families. She always thought of them to be spoiled rotten and to be a little egocentric; James was the perfect example to support her theory. However, Ivory and Remus were the examples that debated it.

"Want some cheese to go with that wine? You would think living with Sirius and the other maunders for the past six years would have prepared you for it. At least it was only one summer and he is your best friend. I had to deal with a sister for sixteen years and she is no picnic. She can be quite a bitch and I'm not exaggerating." Lily said to him without going into anymore detail than she had too.

Lily's sister, Petunia Evans was not even worth mentioning to people that were not her close friends (in Lily's opinion), because half the time Lily wished she herself was an only child though she found most of them to be spoiled brats.

"Was she always as bad as you say she is?" James asked in a sincere voice. He was interested to know anything about Lily. He would take any information he get from her. The funny part was he never usually cared but when it came to Lily he wanted to know everything.

"No but I really don't want to talk about her especially to James Potter." Lily said signaling it was the end of that conversation and James better find another one if he wanted to keep her there.

"What time is it?" Lily asked after a few seconds of silence. She let out a yawn then stood up from the couch and stretched out her arms and legs.

"Um…1:30am," James said looking at his gold plated wristwatch. Lily could tell it was not bought in a muggle store because the clock hands were broomsticks. "Wow we've been here for almost 9 hours."

"I don't know about you but I think I'm heading off to bed. It's getting late and we still have classes tomorrow," Lily said making her way to the door.

"Hold on and I'll walk with you since we are going in the same direction and all." James said following her to the door after he got off the couch and stretched his own legs.

"Alright but hurry up because I'm tired and I don't want to wait all night for you," Lily said walking out the door and into the dark corridor with James hot on her trail.

It took them fifteen minutes to walk up seven flights of stairs and reach the Head dormitory with only one encounter with the caretaker Filch who upon protest let them go because Lily was able to come up with a clever excuse even Dumbledore would believe.

"That was the greatest excuse and it wasn't that far from the truth." James said as they entered the Head common room and sat down on one of the couches.

"See it is good to be honest even if you have to stretch the truth a little but did you see the look on Filch's face when he didn't get his way. I bloody well thought the man was going to throw a tantrum and start crying as if he was a toddler," Lily said giggling then became serious as a thought just crossed her mind and was fighting the urge to ask it. James could tell just by looking at her that she was battling with something, so he decided to push her to it.

"Something on your mind?" James asked her.

"Yeah, actually there is. I was wondering why every time we are alone without our friends, you seem to get a nice streak and we manage to be civil to each other?" Lily asked voicing her thought..

"I don't know maybe our friends are bad influences when we are all together. Why does it matter?" James questioned.

"It doesn't I was just curious that's all. Well I am heading to bed; if I don't go to sleep soon then I will be late for class tomorrow. So goodnight," Lily said heading to her room and shutting the door.

"Night Lily," James whispered to the empty common room before getting up and heading to his own room to turn in himself. The last thing on his mind as he crawled into bed and fell asleep was the girl just across the hall from him. Their relationship if you could call it that, was actually heading in the right direction for once and hopefully he would not screw it up this time.

* * *

© By Mythology, June 4, 2004

Reposted June 27, 2005


	2. Misunderstanding and a Detention

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 2: Misunderstanding and a Detention

"Hey James wait up," Lily called to him as she ran down the second floor corridor to catch up. She had seen him walk passed moments before with his fellow marauders as she was coming out of the library. She had managed to get one chapter read from _The Lady of Avalon_, the new book she was reading (the sequel to _The Forest House_) before deciding to head down stairs for breakfast.

"Hey Lily," the messy haired boy said as Lily approached him. "Want to walk with me to the Great Hall?" James had gestured to his friends to go on without him after Lily had called his name. He insisted he would meet them in the Great Hall in a few minutes and would walk with Lily instead.

Lily silently giggled to herself as she saw the looks the other three marauders were giving their _"fearless leade_r" as they walked on without him, though, James was not paying attention. In fact his attention was focused on Lily's arrival rather than the silly faces his friends were making behind his back.

"Sure," Lily replied politely. It was nice they could actually be in each others company for longer than a few seconds without breaking into an argument over something stupid. James was not all that bad once you scratch the surface.

"What were you doing in the library this early in the morning?" James asked making conversation on their way down to the Great Hall.

"I needed a quiet place where I could sit and read so I went to library knowing no one would be there to bother me." Lily answered, and suddenly remembered why she wanted to talk to James in the first place, "I just remember I needed to talk to you."

"Okay," James replied nervously.

"Its nothing bad, I just remember the reason why I was going to talk to you is all," Lily giggled, "I just wanted to tell you, I arranged a meeting with Dumbledore at lunch. We need to discuss the Halloween plans with him."

"That's good, here I thought I did something wrong again," James sighed relaxing. They had reached the doors of the Great Hall finally.

"No, at least not yet, the day is still young." Lily said in a teasing manner then turned serious again. "Just don't forget to meet me outside of Dumbledore's office at lunch time. It would be good for both of us to discuss it with him."

"I will be there, don't worry." James reassured her.

"Thank-you, now I suggest we go and eat before class begins." Lily said walking through the double doors of the Great Hall, heading over to her friends joining them for breakfast. James followed her through the doors but headed to the other end of the Gryffindor table where he sat in the empty seat Sirius has saved for him.

* * *

"Hey girls," Lily said sitting down beside Ivory and across from Artemis. Her unusual cheerful tone seemed to confuse her two best friends. She was usually grumpy and complaining about something when she joined them for the morning meal. Something was out of place especially on the Friday morning before Lily's detention.

"Are you okay, Lily?" Artemis asked her friend with concern and confusion evident on her face.

"I'm fine," Lily replied now returning the same look in Artemis' direction but still maintaining her cheery attitude. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Artemis looked over at Ivory, seeing if the brown –haired girl was thinking the same thing she was. Ivory just shrugged then directed her attention back to Lily who was looking at both of them.

"Because...you've been a nervous wreck all week, and dreading today since Monday morning. Besides, it's unusual for you to be cheery '_this early'_," Artemis pointed out. By this time all of the girls had forgotten about their half eaten breakfast and instead were just sitting there staring at each other. Two of the girls were waiting for the other one to answer while Lily was trying to figure out how to answer.

The truth was Lily had no idea why she was in a good mood. She just woke up that way. To her it did not seem to make much of a difference whether she was in a good or bad mood but apparently it did to her friends.

"There's no particular reason why I am cheery this morning, I guess my good mood is just a sign that it is going to be a good day," was Lily's answer. It seemed to satisfy her friends at least because they did not ask her any further questions about it. In fact Artemis just smiled at her and changed the subject to what seemed to be more interesting.

The trio continued talking about a great many things as they finished the breakfast they seemed to remember before heading off to the seventh floor for their Arithmancy class, which was one of the only classes they did not share with the marauders.

* * *

Lily waited patiently in Dumbledore's office. The kind old man stared at her with his trade mark twinkling blue eyes which were hidden behind half moon spectacles. His long white silver beard and hair was shimmering from the sunlight coming through the open window. The old Headmaster was a kind old gentleman who had an obsession for muggle sweets. He was quite an odd man too and no matter what age he was (which no one really knew) it did not seem to take away from his good nature.

Lily had been in his office many times over the past few years not as often as the Head Boy and his friends and certainly not for the same reasons. Since she had made Prefect in her fifth year, she along with all of the other Prefects had made frequent trips to the Headmasters office to discuss upcoming events or new ideas. She was no stranger to these meeting. Lily was usually the one who requested them. She felt it was the best way to get her opinion and ideas heard and dealt with the proper way. _'It's better to go to the top rather than the middle,'_ was how Lily always looked at it.

Every time Lily stepped foot into Dumbledore's office, she was always almost amazed by it. There were so many odd things she had never seen before. One she actually did recognize though was the Sorting Hat. She remembered when it was placed on her head at the first Hogwarts feast she had ever been to. She also remembered the relief she felt when the hat called out Gryffindor. The office was a beautiful circular room packed with different wizarding tools and items. It also contained portraits of the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses who were at the moment sleeping peacefully in their frames.

"Miss Evans, I am sorry but we are pressed for time. If you find it more convenient to postpone our meeting until a more suitable date which both you and Mr. Potter can attend, that will be fine with me. However, if you want to continue the meeting without Mr. Potter then that is alright too." Dumbledore said in his polite voice bringing Lily out of her thoughts.

"I really don't think there is any reason to postpone this. I mean it doesn't necessarily take two people to discuss plans. I'm sure whatever James, (Lily took extra precaution to use his name even though she was mad at him and the very mention of his name made her shake with rage), is doing is probably more important and it just came up at the last minute." Lily replied giving her headmaster a fake cheery smile. The good mood she was in only a half-an-hour earlier seemed to be a distant memory.

"If you're sure Miss Evans, you may continue," Dumbledore said motioning for her to begin.

"Well Professor, James and I were thinking of what to do for Halloween…" Lily began the whole time thinking about what revenge she would inflict on James later._ '"I should be more responsible and I promise I will try to be in the future," yeah right you JACKASS. He is going to PAY. I WILL MAKE HIM REGRET MISSING THIS MEETING.'_ Lily thought to herself as she continued to explain her ideas to Dumbledore.

"Well you and Mr. Potter have been hard at work I see. These ideas seem to be well thought out and I have no doubt that all of this can be arranged without any trouble. I will see to the arrangements myself. Expect my appearance at the next Prefect meeting then we will give out the different assignments. Keep up the good work," Dumbledore said his eyes still twinkling.

"Thank-you Professor," Lily said getting up from the comfy red chair she had been sitting in and making her way to the door.

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore called out to her after she had opened the door and was about to leave. She turned back to the Headmaster and waited for him to respond, "Do you want me to talk to Mr. Potter?"

Lily looked at the old man confusion written on her face before realizing what he was referring to. "No…Professor…I would rather talk to him myself, thank-you for offering," Lily replied in a cheerful voice before heading out the door. She would definitely talk to Potter and** that** was a promise.

* * *

"James could I talk to you in the entrance hall?" the red headed girl asked as James turned around to look at her. Almost immediately he could tell something had changed. She spoke to him a calm and gentle voice but, he knew she was faking the polite tone. _'What have I done now?'_ He thought as he followed her out of the Great Hall with everyone's eyes on them, as they made their way to the exit.

"So what's up…?" James was cut off by Lily turning around as soon as the doors had shut behind them and giving him the most horrifying glare he had ever seen her produce. James was now a little scared of the shorter red headed girl in front of him.

"**WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?**" Lily yelled, her voice was so loud that James was sure it shook the room. It was worse then any Howler he had ever received from his parents. James opened his mouth to produce an answer for her but no sound came out or at least he never had a chance to get one out.

"**I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU. HOW INCOMPETENT DO YOU HAVE TO BE NOT TO EVEN SHOW UP TO A MEETING? WAS I TALKING TO THE WALL THIS MORNING OR DO YOU HAVE COTTON IN YOUR EARS PREVENTING YOU FROM HEARING ANYTHING BUT YOUR OWN ANNOYING VOICE?**" Lily yelled again, she did nothing to lower her voice and James was sure the whole school was on the other side of the door listening. Sirius and Remus would probably be there with a glass.

"Oh shit, we had a meeting today at lunch with Dumbledore. I completely forgot," James said out loud to no one in particular.

"**WELL THAT'S OBVIOUS. JAMES POTTER YOU ARE SUCH A PRAT.**" Lily said finally pausing to breath and calming down a little bit. "Okay…alright…I'm calm, (she tried to gain her composure), James just answer me this."

James sighed in relief when Lily began to lower her voice from a top of the lungs scream to calm barely above a whisper tone. May be if he proved just how sorry he was for forgetting about the meeting with Dumbledore she would forgive him. "Okay."

"**HOW THE HELL COULD YOU FORGET ABOUT THE MEETING? IT WAS ONLY THREE HOURS AGO THAT I TOLD YOU. ARE YOU THAT MUCH OF AN AIRHEAD THAT YOU CAN FORGET SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT INLESS THAN TWO HOURS? YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNBELIEVABLE. I DON'T KNOW HOW I COULD EVER THINK YOU COULD CHANGE. YOU KNEW THIS MEETING WAS IMPORTANT TO ME AND THEN YOU GO AND PULL A STUNT LIKE THIS.**" Lily began yelling at the top of her lungs again, forgetting her calmness. The fact that he was standing in front of her was making her angrier. It was hard for her to gain control of her anger but she managed to.

Lily was able to bring her voice back down to a normal level before speaking again. "You know what? You will always be an arrogant jerk. You are one of those people who will never change because you wouldn't know how. I don't even want to look at you right now." Lily did not care if her words were hurtful. Her only thought was to get out of there before she did something inappropriate (like punch him again), even though he probably deserved it.

Lily turned away from him and walked away. Her face still red with rage but her eyes showed a different emotion, one that James could not place. The one thing he knew was Lily's words had hurt him immensely and he had no desire to go after her nor did he have any wish to face the eager listeners on the other side of the door. James made his way to one of the few places he could find solitude for a few hours at least, that was to the kitchens.

When Remus and Sirius did not hear any sounds coming from the other side of the door they started making their way through the crowd of people behind them while saying, "There's nothing more to hear, move on. Go on you lot, go back to your seats."

There was still 10 minutes left of lunch and Sirius decided and protested with Remus about going and finding James. "Moony I think we should just give him a few minutes for the shock of Evans words to wear off. She was pretty harsh." All Remus could do was nod his head in agreement.

"Let's get to our next class before we're late. Hopefully Prongs will be there already waiting for us." Sirius said as the two young wizards made their way to the door following the other students.

They were joined by Lily's two friends who had been right beside them at the door during the argument. They too had decided to give Lily some time to cool off. "It is better not to approach Lily for a while until she has cooled down some. We don't need her ripping into us too," was what Artemis said as they met up with the two boys.

Sirius made a note of that, _'do not approach Lily when she is pissed off or else you will regret it.'_ He really did not want to be on the receiving end of Lily Evans' anger ever, if he could help it, especially if her own friends would not go after her.

* * *

"Mr. Black…Mr. Lupin...," the Potion Professor called to the two Gryffindor boys after the class began separating their ingredients to make Pep-up potion. It was the class assignment for the day. Both boys looked at the woman's approaching figure with her bright orange robes bellowing around her.

Professor Calder was one of the oldest staff members in the school. She seemed to look at least a century older than Dumbledore but of course she was no where close to being the Headmaster's age. She was the closest thing to a grandmother the students of Hogwarts got while at the school and away from the rest of their relatives.

She was not just the grandmotherly figure at Hogwarts; she was also the oddest Professor to grace the halls of Hogwarts in over two decades, (other than the Headmaster). Even the usual dramatic predictions and superstitious behaviour from the Divinations Professor did not come close to the originality of the Potions Professor.

She had the respect and strictness Professor McGonagall did but her kinder side and concern for her students came through more often. Today was one of those days in which her concern came through.

"Where is Mr. Potter? Is he out sick again?" the old woman asked James' best friends, her dark brown eyes were filled with worry. Sirius smiled at his Potions teacher and looked at Remus hoping he had come up with an excuse for James' absence.

"Umm…he…he…he ate too much and too fast during lunch. And didn't think he could make it to class," Remus quickly said looking back over at Sirius. _'Brilliant lie Moony,'_ Sirius thought sarcastically but looked at the old Potions Mistress with a distressing gaze and hoping she would buy it.

"Oh that's too bad. Well boys make sure you take good notes so our Head Boy can catch up," to both Sirius and Remus' relief she had bought their excuse.

"Will do Professor Calder," Sirius answered sighing with relief and amazed she actually thought it was the truth. The old woman smiled at them and continued her venture around the class examining her student's progress on their potions.

"Nice cover Moony," Sirius complimented the lighter haired boy while patting him on the back. "You amaze me sometimes."

"Yeah…I amaze even myself with that one," Remus said wiping away the perspiration that began to form on his forehead. Both the boys began separating and preparing their ingredients for the potion. They were able to finish it in record time and without any of their usual distractions or trouble making urges. '_This has got to be a first time a class has being uneventful with any of the marauders present,'_ Sirius thought as he cleaned up the remainder of his potions ingredients and was waiting for the Double Advanced Potion class to end. Only fifteen minutes to go until the Hogwarts students would be free for the weekend.

* * *

It was about midway through the potions class which James was supposed to be attending when he emerged from the kitchens and made his way to the entrance hall. He had no intentions of going to his class—_what would be the point?_ It was half over and he knew he would not be able to concentrate even if it was simple. He only had one destination in mind and that was to go to his room. He was in no mood to speak to anyone.

James had managed to walk up the first two flights of stairs without being noticed by any roaming Professors. He was half way up the third staircase when he heard a voice call out his name.

"Mr. Potter—I am not right in presuming that you are to be in Potions class now" the voice called up from the bottom of the staircase. James knew who the voice belonged without having to turn around.

'_Great just what I need to deal with right now,'_ James thought as he turned around. "Yes I am Headmaster," James answered staring down at the aging man. He knew Dumbledore would see through any excuse he told even if he had time to think one up. The best thing for him to do was come out with the truth.

"Do you want to tell me why you are not attending it?" Dumbledore asked out of concern rather than anger.

James had no desire to tell the Headmaster he was skipping class because a confrontation with the Head Girl made him upset. It would be awkward and it really was not a good excuse for missing any class. "I'd rather not say sir but I will accept any punishment you decide to give me."

"Why would I punish you James?" Dumbledore asked receiving a look of confusion from his student.

"What do you mean Professor?" James asked the Headmaster. There were times when he and his best friends speculated Dumbledore had being eating to much sugar, causing side affects for the old man and this was one of those times.

"Have you done anything that deserves punishment?" James was astonished by the question. Of course he had done something wrong. He had skipped out of his potions class and though he believed there was a good reason, he refused to disclose the information to the Headmaster. If it was any other teacher, James knew he would have been sent to class and received a week's worth of detentions.

"Maybe," James answered, "I'm not in class and I refuse to give you an explanation. This is usually about the time I get a lecture at and given a detention."

"Mr. Potter, walk with me to my office and on our way we can discuss this," Dumbledore suggested smiling at his young charge.

James had no choice but to comply with the Headmaster's request. It would be disrespectful not to. James walked back down the stairs and took up position beside the older man as they began making their way from the stairway to Dumbledore's office.

"It seems there is no reason for me to punish you Mr. Potter. You know what you have done is wrong and I am sure this incident will not be repeated. Also it appears you have been punished enough already. I believe you and Miss Evans had a disagreement at lunch," Dumbledore revealed. James stopped and watched as the Headmaster continued on his way. _'How could Dumbledore know about the argument? He was no where near the Great Hall;'_ at least that's what James thought.

"How…how...do you know about that sir?" James asked finally able to speak again. Dumbledore stopped and waited for James to catch up to him before answering.

"I have my sources," Dumbledore replied his eyes twinkling.

'_So much for keeping your personal life a secret from your Professors,'_ James thought while he and the Headmaster walked the rest of the way in silence.

They reached the Gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office.

"James I want you to keep something in mind," Dumbledore said turning his young student.

"What's that Professor?" James asked.

"Life is never simple and when you are a teenager nothing seems to make sense. Things will happen when they happen and there is nothing anyone can do to speed up the process or prevent them from occurring."

"Okay," James agreed confusion was etched over his face again. As powerful and intelligent as Dumbledore was, he had a knack for confusing people with his words of wisdom. James knew there would be a day when he actually understood what Dumbledore meant but until that day arrived he would just push them aside.

Dumbledore stared at James for a few minutes before speaking again. "Is there anything you would like to ask me James?"

Now that Dumbledore mentioned it, yeah there was something James had been meaning to ask his Headmaster since the beginning of the school year. "Yes actually there is Professor. I…I would like…." James stuttered, he was unable to get the rest of the question out of his mouth.

Dumbledore raised his hand up to silence him, "You would like to know why I made you the Head Boy correct?"

James felt his mouth drop to the floor in amazement. _'How was it possible for Dumbledore to know that or anything else going on in his life?'_ James admired the older man for being so in touch with his students. It certainly made talking to him about things easier. "Yes Professor."

"I have been asked by a great number of people why you were chosen as Head Boy over other students. Sylvester Snape owled me over the summer to question my sanity and ask why his son was not chosen," Dumbledore chuckled then continued. "But I told him the same thing as I have told everyone else."

"And what was that Sir?" James asked.

"James you are more the qualified for the Head Boy position. You are one of the top students, you are respected by your peers and you have the loyalty of your friends. You might be a little rough around the edges but when faced with a problem you react responsibly. Besides you have been leader of that group of yours for six years. This position should be a piece of cake," Dumbledore explained to the young boy. "Mr. Potter I suggest you make your way up to the common room before you're caught by another teacher."

"Yes Professor, and thank-you," James said to Dumbledore. He turned away from his Headmaster and made his way back down the corridor to the staircase. Dumbledore remained rooted to the spot where the boy had departed and watched as he went. All the while his blue eyes remained twinkling and a smile was plastered on his face.

"Things will look up Mr. Potter but you have to wait." The old man whispered to the air. He turned around and gave the Gargoyle the password to his office and disappeared up the moving circular stone staircase.

* * *

"Hey Prongs why weren't you in Potions?" Sirius asked his best friend as he entered his room and saw James lying down on his bed with a pillow over his head. _'This looks oddly familiar,'_ Sirius thought to himself as he placed some parchment on James' desk. He turned the chair around and sat in it placing his feet on the bed and his arms behind his head. He was relaxed.

"Shouldn't you be down in the Great Hall stuffing your face?" Sirius heard James mumble from underneath the pillow.

"I could be down there but I figured my friend needed me more," Sirius answered.

"Wow…aren't I lucky," James mumbled again while Sirius chuckled.

"So what's up man? Are you making this a habit?" Sirius repeated sitting up properly in the chair.

"What do you mean?" James asked pulling himself up into a sitting position. Sirius noticed he had a major case of bed head.

"Are you going to keep skipping classes and retreat into your room and hide under a pillow for the rest of the year?" Sirius asked grabbing the pillow off the bed from beside James and shaking it to emphasize the last half of his question.

"No…it's just been a stressful week. And don't ask why because you already know the reason," James said after seeing the words forming on his friends lips. The smile on Sirius' face faded some, "Yeah I know you were listening on the other side of the door. I wouldn't doubt it if the whole school was."

"How…how… do you know that? Can you see through things?" Sirius asked stunned.

"Sirius, I have known you forever. And usually when Evans and I have a conversation, the whole school stops to watch. It's a pretty easy thing to guess."

"It wasn't the whole school just most of the students. The teachers weren't there." Sirius said after a few minutes.

"Oh that makes me feel a lot better," James replied sarcastically.

"For what it's worth, Evans didn't look any better than you do. And even Artemis and Ivory haven't spoken to her yet. Apparently our Head Girl is not one you want to approach when she's mad." Sirius offered hoping it would make his best friend feel better. To his relief James managed a small grin.

"Come on Prongs let's go and eat. I'm starving." Sirius stood up from the chair and made his way over to the door but looked back to the bed when he noticed he was no t being followed.

"You go ahead Padfoot I'm not really that hungry," James said his smile disappearing.

"Are you sure Prongs?" Sirius asked. James just nodded his head.

Sirius knew James would object but he did not care. He hated seeing his best friend so depressed and was determine to do everything in his power to fix the problem which was the root of James' depression. Sirius decided he would talk to Lily during his detention.

He took one last look at the younger boy before leaving the room.

* * *

Lily stood outside of the Muggle Studies classroom staring at the wooden door in front of her. She had to enter it sooner or later but still she was delaying her entry as long as possible.

"Come on Evans, it's just a detention. It's not like I'm facing a judge,"Lily told herself but still made no effort to move.

"I don't know about the muggle world but in the wizarding world, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity." Lily heard a voice say. That deep arrogant voice could only belong to two people, Potter or Black. Potter had not been seen all afternoon so it had to be Black. And sure enough there he was with a broad grin plastered on his face when Lily turned around to see who was invading her thoughts.

"It seems then, muggles and wizards share something in common," Lily replied.

"It's probably not the first either," Sirius said.

"Probably not," Lily replied back still staring at the door.

"Professor Blithe is one of the worst teachers to get for a detention. McGonagall must really want to teach you a lesson." Sirius said knowing Lily would start panicking.

"What? Is…is…is she really that terrible?" Lily stuttered feeling a familiar flutter of nervousness come over her. Sirius, like James, loved getting a rise out of the Head Girl. It was so easy. _"She seems less perfect," _is what James always said after they had seen her go into a frenzy after a prank or before a test.

"Of course why do you think I was assigned to the same Professor? I can't even count the number of times James and I have…"

"Please don't mention **THAT** name in my presence. I don't want to hear about anything that involves Potter," Lily hissed, cutting Sirius off. She was still upset with James from the incident he pulled at lunch and she did not want to hear about him. Even hearing the mention of his name infuriated her.

"He's not a bad guy. And he didn't mean to…" Sirius started but was cut off again when Lily turned around and glared at him with a deadly look. Almost immediately Sirius shut his mouth. He was not stupid. He knew if he pushed the subject about his best friend further, he could be spending a week in the infirmary. Sirius was not going to give up but he was going to wait until she cooled off more.

"I do believe your detention is to be served in my classroom and not out here in the corridor," both Lily and Sirius turned away from each other, their gazes falling on the Muggles Studies Professor, who was standing in the open doorway with a smile on her young face.

Lily noticed the teacher looked very young with dark blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and blue eyes which lit up when she smiled. She was a tall woman, almost as tall as Sirius, who was six-foot-one, (James and Remus were only an inch shorter while Peter was three inches shorter).

Lily felt short standing between the Professor and Sirius. She had not felt this short since second year. Lily's five foot-eight inch stature was more noticeable now then before, (Artemis and Ivory were the same height but two inches shorter then Lily).

"Come in," Professor Blithe said bringing Lily out of her thoughts. She followed the teacher into the room.

"Hey Professor, it's been a long time since we had detention together. Almost a whole week," Sirius greeted as he entered behind Lily.

"Indeed it has," Professor Blithe said as she sat down at her desk, "I already am well acquainted with Sirius but I see we have a new face."

"Yeah Lily here, is a first timer," Sirius said plopping himself in one of the desks in the front row.

This classroom looked no different from the Transfigurations room. It contained the same wooden desks and chairs, set up the same way. The only difference between the rooms was, the Muggle Studies room contained posters and diagrams of muggle inventions while the Transfiguration and most of the other rooms had tapestries with different colours and pictures hanging on the walls. _'Probably wanted this room to resemble an actual muggle class room,_' Lily thought.

"I wish we had the chance to meet under better circumstances but I guess it really doesn't matter," Blithe said getting Lily attention again.

"Huh?" Lily responded with a disoriented look, what other circumstances would Lily have met the Muggle Studies Professor.

"I have wanted to meet you for some time now." Blithe started saying after seeing Lily's moment of puzzlement. "After all, you're the talk of the staff room. You have ALL the Professors beaming about your work and talent."

Lily's face turned red with embarrassment and shock from the information Blithe's provided. She never was one to take compliments well. Lily looked over at Sirius and saw the evil grin appear on his face. She knew he would use this revelation against her later to either tease her relentlessly or use as blackmail.

"What I have planned for your detention tonight is making pizzas the muggle way," Blithe announced.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to get the house elves to make them," Sirius whined.

"Can't we just watch the elves do it or wash something? That's what we usually do."

'_Being a pureblood wizard sure did have its faults'_ Lily thought when she saw Sirius' reaction to doing anything without magic.

May be this detention would not be as bad as Lily had expected. Lily loved making pizzas. She did it nearly every summer for her parents annual summertime party. Some could even say that she could open her own business.

"I am hosting a pizza party tomorrow from noon until three for the third years. It is a way for them to experience a muggle event and give them a treat at the same time. Since this is a class where wizarding children have the advantage to learn about non-magical society, everything should be made without using any magic," Professor Blithe explained, "I was orginally going to recruit volunteers but when Professor McGonagall came into the staff room Monday, announcing she needed someone for detention duty on Friday, I was the only one who agreed. It saved me the trouble of finding volunteers."

"But I don't know anything about pizzas, other than how to eat them," Sirius groaned.

'_What a BABY?'_ Lily thought.

"Learn something new everyday Sirius," Lily replied, "Besides I have made hundreds of pizzas over the years so I can teach you. It's not that hard and who knows you might learn a new trait. Learning how to cook might even win you some more points when it comes to girls."

"Really?" Sirius asked turning his frown into a huge grin. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's get making."

Professor Blithe just smiled at Lily and mouthed a thank-you and followed Sirius out of the room. Lily just let out a sigh and laughed to herself before following suit.

The three of them made their way down five flights of stairs to the ground floor. Professor Blithe led the two young Gryffindors down stone steps to an underground brightly lit stone corridor. There were cheerful paintings of food decorating the walls.

She reached out and tickled a large green pear from a painting containing a silver fruit bowl. The pear began squirming and chuckling and then turned into a large green handle. Professor Blithe seized the handle and pushed it opened.

'_Wow,' _Lily thought when she entered the lush kitchen of Hogwarts. She had never ventured to it in all her years of being at the school. She would have never known where to look. Of course though Sirius was not amazed by this sight, it was a known fact amongst the student body that the marauders knew every hiding place and secret about the school, even ones the teachers had not discovered.

The room was as big as the Great Hall lined with hundreds of brass pots and pans. Dozens of house elves turned their attention to the three visitors and stared at them in wonder for a few minutes before returning back to work.

"Now I want to work as a team, for example, Lily you can roll out the dough and put the pizza in the pans and then sauce it. Sirius you can cheese them, put the toppings on and then stack them," Blithe explained. "30 pizzas need to be made tonight."

"Does it matter what toppings we need?" Lily asked the Professor.

"Yes it does. 10 of them need both pepperoni and mushrooms, 15 are to be pepperoni and cheese and the last 5 are just cheese. Everything is already laid out; all you have to do is begin. When they are all made I will put a freezing charm on them and have the house elves put them threw the oven tomorrow morning. If you need any help I will be down in 20 minutes. I left papers in my office that I want to mark." Blithe said giving a kind smile to her charges and headed for the door.

"Okay you heard Blithe, I will work on the dough and sauce—you take care of the cheese and toppings," Lily ordered.

"Doesn't take you long for the authority figure to come out," Sirius teased.

"Let's just get started. The faster we begin, the quicker we can get out of here." Lily said walking over to one of the long wooden tables and grabbing an already prepared dough ball. She picked up the rolling pin and started rolling out the dough.

There were two wooden tables prepared with the tools for pizza making. 30 dough balls, bowels of all purpose flour, a rolling pin and 3 bowels of specially made pizza sauce and ladle scattered all over one table. The other one had 4 big containers filled with sliced pepperoni as well as 3 containers filled with mushrooms and another 5 filled with blended cheese. Behind the preparing tables were 30 large iron pans to place the rolled out pizzas in.

Lily took a few minutes to explain to Sirius what to do and showed him how to do it after she had finished rolling and saucing the first ball. She hoped she would only have to show him once. Sirius gave her a grateful smile and she returned back to her station and grabbed the second dough ball and began rolling it out.

"Why you in a hurry to get done anyway Evans, got a date or something?" Sirius commented on her previous statement while waiting for Lily to finish with the next ball. He grabbed a handful of mushrooms from one of the containers and shoved them into his mouth. Lily just rolled her eyes then leaned over and slapped his hand away from the other ingredients.

"Those aren't for you," Lily yelled at him. She felt like she was babysitting a four year old. "If you eat all of the ingredients then there won't be any left for the pizzas."

"Calm down Evans, I only ate a handful. It will go unnoticed." Sirius said, "And by the way you still haven't answered my question."

Lily had been hearing that statement a lot lately and was getting a little frustrated by it. "My life is, none of yours, Potter's or anyone else's business. Last time I checked I didn't have to consult my plans with anybody. But it seems that I have been the topic of conversation and everyone feels they need to stick there noses where it doesn't belong." Lily hissed at Sirius in an irritable voice. _Why was she so popular all of a sudden? Why did everyone care what she did? _She was glad the week was almost over. It felt like it was one big mood swing after another.

"Okay, okay I was just curious. No need to jump down my back about it," Sirius responded in defense. _Why did James like this girl so much?_ _She would not know how to have fun if her life depended on it. _She was too serious and devoted to school for Sirius' liking. But then again if Sirius could choose the girl his best friend would fall for, it would probably be someone similar to Lily. She was the kind of girl he would want for himself not to mention James.

She was beautiful, smart and a little mysterious all rolled into one. She was by far different from the girls he dated. But she would be the kind of girl he looked for when he wanted a relationship and not just a weekly fling. James had already reached that point in his life and he had his heart set on Lily but Sirius had not reached that point in his young life yet and he knew it. The only thing he wanted to do was help James get the girl of his dreams.

Lily could feel someone staring at her. She tried to ignore it hoping they would stop but it was no use. She looked up from rolling her third dough ball and locked eyes with Sirius' blue ones.

"What?" she demanded frustrated.

"Nothing," Sirius answered turning away. Lily turned back to the dough but after a few minutes she heard Sirius mumble something under his breath.

"What?" she repeated, "And don't tell me nothing."

"I was just wondering why you and James…"

"I told you once already tonight Black…" Lily interrupted him once again hissing at him, "…I don't want to talk about **THAT PRAT**." Lily's voice echoed through the kitchen causing the house elves to duck under near by tables and surfaces.

"Sorry," the Head Girl apologized to the shaken elves who after a few minutes returned to their duties.

"Look Evans you obviously need to get whatever is bothering you about my best friend out in the open. You don't yell at innocent people and elves for nothing," Sirius tried to convince her to talk to him. If she told him how she felt about James maybe he could have a better understanding about the situation. "Just get out it. Trust me you will feel better."

"What makes you think I haven't talked to my friends about it already?" Lily asked.

"Because both Artemis and Ivory admitted that they didn't want to talk to you earlier today, especially when you're angry at someone. They flat out told me that it was dangerous to cross you when you're in these moods," Sirius informed her.

"So why are you crossing me and asking me things?" Lily questioned him.

"Because you have had time to cool off a bit," Sirius said.

Lily thought Sirius' first statement over carefully. He seemed to be sincere enough and he did make sense. It's not like her feelings for James were a secret. May be it would do her a world of good to get the point-of-view from the other side. She could get feedback and who better to talk about it with than James' best friend. Lily finally gave up the fighting urge to talk to Sirius and began speaking.

"You want to know why James and I can't get along for long periods of time. And why we argue every other day if not everyday. Do you really want to know?" Lily asked her grip tightened on the rolling pin she was holding onto.

"Yes I want to know. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

"The truth is, James and I are two different people," Lily said. Sirius gave her a goofy look. He did not really understand what she meant by that statement. '_What the hell is she talking about?_'

"Of course you're different. He's male and you're a female," Sirius stated. By this time he had abandoned any thought of putting the toppings on the pizzas.

Lily rolled her eyes again. _For a boy who was third in all of his classes, behind herself and James, he sure could be dumb sometimes._

"That's not what I mean. James and I are complete opposites and competitors. These two combinations can be dangerous," Lily explained.

"What makes you think they are dangerous? Opposites in most cases attract and competition is a healthy part of life," Sirius commented.

"That is not always true, especially in any examples including Potter and myself."

"And why is that?"

"Because Potter is a selfish…spoiled…arrogant prat. He has no respect for authority and cares for no one but himself," Lily responded. Sirius was right it was good to get that off her chest.

Sirius frowned at the cruel words spoken about his best friend. There was so much Lily did not know about James and she would not let herself see passed the bad things to see the good.

"He maybe those things at first appearance I won't deny that. Hell I'm the same way," Sirius said trying to give her a better insight into the life and times of his best friend. "But once you get passed all that scratch the surface and peal away the first couple of layers, you will see there is more to him."

"Like what? What else is there to Potter that I don't already see?" Lily questioned. She had seen James' sincere side and everything Sirius had said about him. But she was not willing to see passed the first appearance because every time she tried to he pulled back and proved her wrong. She was tired of this on going cycle.

"Well for one he is a loyal friend. He would bend over backwards for all of us. And he has on several occasions," Sirius responded in James defense.

"Give me an example of this loyal behaviour," Lily said doubting him.

"What…? What do you mean?" Sirius stuttered.

Lily could sense the panic his voice. _What could Sirius tell her about James?_ He could not even give her an example without trembling.

"Yes," Lily replied, "I want you to tell me a specific event outlining James' loyalty? That shouldn't be too hard."

"Well for one he…James…has…ah…taking the wrap for me a few times. Times when I got myself in major trouble," Sirius explained. He felt odd giving the Head Girl any information about the marauder's trouble making. She was the opposition after all. Discussing these things with James was different even though he was the Head Boy or with Remus when he was a Prefect because they were both involved in most of them.

"What kind of trouble?" Lily asked innocently. She was intrigued by the direction their conversation was going. She resumed with the pizza making but had her ears open and ready to listen.

"I'm not really comfortable telling the Head Girl about the marauders trouble making. Let's just say he has been there for me, Remus and Peter in more ways then I can count and has not asked for anything in return."

"Fine I understand," Lily replied. Sirius could hear the disappointment in her voice. "I do have another question to ask you though,"

"What is it?" Sirius asked her in return.

"I wanted to know why you care so much. Why do you care if James and I are friends or not? What's in it for you?"

"Well he is my best friend and like you, when a person close to you is upset, hurt or even emotionally unstable you want to help them. It goes with the whole loyalty thing," Sirius said.

"Well you're a good friend I'll give you that. And if Potter is half of what you claim he is, then he probably is a decent guy even if it doesn't show up very often," Lily admitted. "I will admit that I have seen a less arrogant side to Potter, so I do know it can be achieved. But then again every time he begins to show any sign of being decent he pulls back and does something incredibly stupid just to throw people off the scent."

"He just has a hard time expressing himself. Most guys do when it comes to the opposite sex."

"No kidding," Lily replied sarcastically, "Is that why most guys act like gits and showoffs around girls?"

"I don't know what you're talking about? None of the marauders act that way." Sirius said in mock hurt.

"Yeah, whatever you say Black," Lily said. "Was there ever a point to this whole conversation or did we just talk without any direction. I'm sure there was a motive in here somewhere." Lily was getting tired with this chat Sirius had started and she could tell from the very beginning he was trying to learn something from her or at least trying to get her to do or admit to something.

"I had no motive, I just simply opened my mouth and words came tumbling out. That's what happens when you talk to another person." Sirius retorted.

"Yes that is true Black but why did this _'simple'_ conversation involve Potter and me. A conversation with no motive behind it will not lead anywhere that is off limits to talk about."

"You're the one who allowed me to bring up the subject with little objection," Sirius pointed out.

"I objected plenty to the subject but you wouldn't let it go until you got your way," Lily argued.

"Look I do not want to start a big argument with you all I wanted out of this whole thing was to ask you to lay off of James," Sirius said.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"I mean could you try not to disagree with him so much. If you listen to him once and a while you might realize he is really bright. All I'm suggesting is try to be his friend rather than his enemy. You will find you two are stronger as friends."

Lily again thought over Sirius' words. He seemed to be making a lot of sense, she did not know if the older boy beside her was maturing or if she was beginning to lose her mind. Perhaps he really did care about his friends and was only trying to make them all happy. If that were true, he sure was being selfless. _What did she have to lose? It's not like she had to marry Potter or anything and she was happy with his behaviour from the night before when he actually did open up to her. If Potter could show that side of himself around her more often there would be no problem with befriending him. _

"I'm not saying that I am going to become his best friend, hell I doubt I will even become a good friend but it would be nice to talk to him without arguing. It would be less exhausting to."

Sirius just smiled at the red headed girl. He had accomplished part of what he set out to do. He managed to convince the stubborn Head Girl that the equally stubborn Head Boy was more then an _'arrogant prat.' _It was certainly a step in the right direction to helping his best friend get over his slight depressive mood swings.

The only thing Sirius did not realize though was in his efforts to get Lily Evans and James Potter to become friends and hopefully in the near future an item, he had in fact gotten the attention of the Head Girl. Slowly Lily Evans was developing a crush of the Head Boy's best friend.

* * *

© Mythology, June 4, 2004

Reposted June 28, 2005


	3. Rumours, Rules and Girl Bonding

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 3: Rumours, Rules and Girl Bonding

The warm weather which was brought with the summer season quickly disappeared with the coming of autumn; at least that's how it seemed to be for the students of Hogwarts.

The blooming of the summer flowers were in their closing stages and the green leaves of the deciduous trees were changing colour to yellows, reds, oranges and browns.

The beginning of October not only brought a seasonal change to Hogwarts, it brought excitement as well. The students could not wait until the Halloween feast which took place at the end of the month.

For some reason it seemed different this year because in all of her six years at the school, Lily had never heard or seen so many students excited about the ordinary Halloween traditions. Most of the enthusiasm was always surrounded around the Hogsmeade weekend and the feast was justthat a feast.

Yes it was a magnificent feast and the staff of Hogwarts always out did themselves with the decorations of floating jack-o-lanterns, and the mountains of candy and sweets covering the four tables.

However, rumours had started and were flying around the student body that there was going to not be just the Halloween feast but there would also be a ball or dance. No one knew who began the rumours or how they even came to that conclusion. Neither James, Lily nor any of the Prefects had confirmed any of them.

As many times as the Head students and Prefects tried to tell the gossiping classmates who had asked if the information was true or not, did not seem to detract the idea at all. Everyone figured the Prefects and Head students were lying to keep it a surprise.

Lily, herself had been hearing the rumors and theories traveling throughout school. One particular morning while on her way to meet Artemis and Ivory for breakfast, she overheard a conversation between a Hufflepuff girl and her Ravenclaw friend who were both in fourth year.

"Do you think it's true?" Lily heard the short Hufflepuff girl ask her friend.

"No I don't," the taller Ravenclaw girl answered back a little harshly. Lily noticed the girl appeared to care little for the gossip and stories her shorter friend indulged in.

"Why not, I mean it could be a possibility. Other Head students have planned these kinds of events for important holidays."

"So that doesn't necessarily mean that is what's going to happen this year. Think about it Gem, if there was a ball it wouldn't be speculation. We would know about by now so we could go and buy the proper attire and arrange dates. This sort of event is not a spontaneous thing and if we were going to have a ball it wouldn't be this early in the school year. It would need more time to be planned out,"

"Well, I suppose you do have a point. Still I do like the idea of a ball. I think it sounds romantic," the shorter girl announced with a dreamy look in her eyes. Her friend just rolled hers and headed over to the Ravenclaw table while the other girl made her way to the Hufflepuff table.

The theories of a surprise ball were not the only subject floating around Hogwarts. The students had become even more interested in the private lives of their Head students. For reasons no one could figure out, not even Lily's best friends, the Head girl had been spending much of her spare time hanging out with the marauders. She and James had been getting along quite well; some might even say they had become friends. Not a close friendship in which they would divulge all of their deep dark secrets but a friendship that included actually wanting to hang out with that person.

Artemis' and Ivory's theory for why their best friend suddenly decided it was time to put obvious dislikes and differences between herself and _'Potter' _had something to do with having to work with him on their Head duties. They could only go on their own speculated thoughts. Lily had offered them no explanation with her change in behaviour.

It had all happened so fast and Lily had given her friends no warning or time to adjust to this new situation.

One day Lily is yelling and complaining about _'Potter and his band of lunatic—trouble—making friends' _and out of the blue she plops right down in a seat beside the popular Gryffindor boys making conversation as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was not only Lily's and James' best friends who found this to be odd, no the whole school had noticed too. However, it concerned those closest to Lily the most while the rest of the school just talked about it.

Being the good friends they are, Artemis and Ivory just followed along and never bothered to ask Lily _'what was with the drastic change in her character?'_ They were still unsure if the subject of _'Potter'_ (or better known these days as James), was a safe topic to discuss. They would not bring him up unless she mentioned him first.

One thing was clear though, Artemis was getting really tired of the constant whispering she over heard from the other students every time they passed by with Lily. _'This is getting really annoying' _was the thought that crossed Artemis' mind every time she heard the whispers.

It was on the morning of October 5th when Artemis' lashed out in front of everyone in the Great Hall. It was an unplanned and unintentional outburst. She had let her anger get the better of her and began yelling at two innocent fifth year Ravenclaw's who just happen to mention the reason for the Head students and Prefects absence from breakfast.

"**I AM BLOODY WELL GETTING SICK OF ALL OF YOU TALKING ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND BEHIND HER BACK. SHE IS NOT BLOODY ROYALTY. THE MOST SCADNALESS THING ON HER RECORD IS PROBABLY FORGETTING TO RETURN A LIBRARY BOOK ON TIME. YOU WANT SOMETHING TO GOSSIP ABOUT READ THE DAILY PHOPHET ONCE AND A WHILE OR PERHAPS EVEN WITCH WEEKLY. BETTER YET, STICK YOUR NOSES BACK IN YOUR AS…**"

"Miss West that is enough, I want to talk to you in my office now." Professor McGonagall interrupted Artemis before she could finish her sentence. It was probably a good thing too because the last part of her statement contained language not suitable for the younger years to hear. Who knows how much trouble she would be in if she did get the rest of it out.

"Sorry Professor," Artemis apologized and followed her Head of House out of the Great Hall and to her office on the first floor.

"Have a seat Miss West," McGonagall ordered and pointed to one of the red and scarlet armchairs positioned in front of her large wooden desk. The strict woman's office was nothing out of the ordinary. It looked like just another teacher's office; the only thing that set it apart from all the others was the fact you could tell it belonged to the Transfigurations Professor.

There were at least three bookshelves fill with all the Transfiguration guides a wizard or witch could dream of. The same wooden desk provided for all of the teachers, matching armchairs with the Gryffindor colours. Candles on every surface, papers spread around the office and two triangular shaped windows which had the morning sunlight pouring through.

"What was the meaning for that little outburst? Explain yourself immediately," McGonagall demanded. Artemis could tell she was mad even though she managed to keep her voice calm. The look on McGonagall's face was proof enough not to disobey her.

"I am sorry Professor, it just came out before I had time to think about what I was doing," Artemis answered sincerely. Her apology was nothing but the honest truth and she was really sorry for her actions.

The outburst in front of the whole school was a humiliation she did not plan and would not have done deliberately. She would rather jump off a bridge then experience another mortifying moment like that again. She at least had the satisfaction of knowing everyone would stop the whispering, well around her anyways. The look of shock on their faces was worth her moments of embarrassment.

"Whether or not you are sorry and it was unintentional, does not excuse your behaviour. I am deducting 10 points for your lack of control for your temper and you will receive a weeks worth of detention beginning Monday. You are to report to my office everyday after dinner next week. Is that clear?" McGonagall said with authority.

Artemis sure was not going to go against her. "Yes Professor,"

"Good, you may go back and finish your breakfast," McGonagall replied releasing her charge. Artemis just nodded her head and made her way to the door. She went back to the Great Hall to join Ivory and the remaining three marauders for breakfast before planning out their activities for the Saturday.

* * *

"What did McGonagall have to say?" Sirius asked the black haired girl as she sat down beside Remus and a crossed from him at breakfast. Ivory was sitting in between Sirius and Peter.

"Well I have a weeks worth of detention with our beloved Deputy Headmistress. She also took off 10 points," Artemis informed her friends. She was not angry about having detentions, hell she had suffered though them at least once a year. The thing which made her mad was when Lily came late to Transfigurations class only a few short weeks before, she only had one detention but because of her outburst McGonagall had given her a week. It just did not seem fair.

Ivory could tell something was wrong with her best friend. Artemis was never this quiet especially in presence any of the marauders.

"What's wrong Tem?" Ivory asked concerned about her friend. The question drew the attention of the other three sitting around them.

"Nothing," Artemis replied barley above a whisper. This was a clear sign that something was bothering her and it was not only Ivory who noticed a difference.

"Now I know something's wrong. A person who answers that specific question with '_nothing'_ just proves there is something on their mind," Sirius pointed out.

"Thank-you for that assessment, Professor Black," Remus replied sarcastically. Sirius' only response was sticking his tongue out at his friend. Remus leaned over and punched Sirius in the right shoulder and then rolled his eyes while Sirius cried out in pain.

"Now that our immature friends are done playing around, I will ask again and I expect more of an answer this time." Ivory said to Artemis while ignoring Sirius' whimpering and Remus' and Peter's laughing. "What's wrong?"

Almost immediately after Ivory got the question out of her mouth again, the three marauders quieted down and leaned in to hear the girl's conversation.

"I just find it upsetting that when Lily was late for McGonagall's class a few weeks ago she only received one night of detention, two other times before that she was also late and just received a warning. She lost no points for her lateness either at least none that she told us about," Artemis stopped to take a breath. She was speaking at a fast pace which she usually did when she was upset, frustrated or excited. "McGonagall even let Sirius (she pointed at him), get off almost scott free when he was caught out of the common room passed curfew and lost no house points either."

"Hey, wait just one moment. I lost house points. That week if I remember correctly we were ahead of Slytherin by 22 points after McGonagall caught me she deducted 20 points leaving us only 2 points ahead," Sirius retorted. Artemis sat there stunned for a minute trying to remember where the house points were a few weeks ago. The more she thought about it, the more she remember seeing that Gryffindor had lost quite a few points that week. Before Sirius mentioned it she just assumed it was a combination of younger students who had lost them all those points and not just one person. Boy did her face turn red with embarrassment when she realized she had made a mistake.

"Sorry Sirius you never mentioned losing any house points when you told us about your detention. But still you only got a night's worth of detention and I have a week. I don't think it's fair," Artemis said.

"Whether it's fair or not you still have to deal with it," Remus put in his input.

"Yeah I know," Artemis replied miserably. She would have to deal with it of course and it was only a week. She could handle a week and knowing McGonagall, Artemis would probably not have to anything to difficult or time consuming. She decided to drop the subject and instead moved onto a more interesting one.

"So what do you guys want to do on this beautiful Saturday while we wait for the Head Boy and Girl to join us?" Artemis asked her friends and as soon as the words were out of her mouth the five of them began planning out their activities for the day.

* * *

"Alright now that you all have your partners and individual assignments you should get started on preparing what is needed to be done for Halloween. If there is no other order of business to attend to, this Prefect meeting is adjourned for the week. Report back here on Thursday so James or myself can check over your progress. Also remember to look at the schedule posted on the notice board so everyone is clear what day they have patrol duty. We do not want another mix up like we did last week, you're free," Lily said in a dignified tone while banging the gabble down on the desk.

The Prefects made their way to the door and left the two Head students alone in the Prefect lounge. This had become a common ritual every week since the night Lily and James had had the heart to heart talk. After every Prefect meeting the Head Boy and Girl stayed behind to prepare for next weeks meeting and tide up.

Lily with the request of Dumbledore, who had stopped by for part of the meeting, had arranged the extra Prefect gathering for that Saturday. It was the only free day Dumbledore had had in weeks.

The first meeting they had arrange to hand out the assignments to the Prefects so they could begin preparations for the first and second year activity day while the third years and up were at Hogsmeade, Dumbledore unfortunately had to cancel due to some important issues which came up at the last minute. When Dumbledore and Lily went over his schedule to plan another time, the day of October 5th was his only available date.

The assignments Lily had given the Prefects were simple enough. They would take little time to organize and would not take any extra time away from school work. Lily knew she could have planned everything out herself with no help from anyone but Dumbledore had insisted she get some aid from the others. Dumbledore knew better than anyone that the Head Girl could manage it all on her own.

She was brilliant, very brilliant, but she was an over achiever who took on too many things at once. Even if she could do everything she took on, still she was only one person and not five people. Spreading out the work was what Dumbledore thought best for Lily and in many ways he was right because she had enough leisure to do her school work, read a few more books, hangout with her friends, plan meetings and all the normal things she was involved in.

With the extra time she manage to find, Lily had spent hanging out with the marauders and doing what Sirius had suggested, getting to know James and actually listening to what he had to say. She was definitely seeing Pott…no …James in a different light. In fact she actually was beginning to enjoy spending time with him and his friends. The more she got to know him, the more she got to know Sirius and the others. Even though she and James were getting along, she only liked him as a friend. Yet the more time she spent with Sirius, the more her crush on him began to develop.

"Hey, Lily," she heard a voice call to her breaking her train of thought. She looked up from the desk and looked into concerned hazel eyes.

"What?" she asked coming out of her daze.

"I've called you name three times and you never answered. Are you okay?" the voice, which was owned by the Head Boy, asked. Lily shook her head to release all of her confusion then looked back at the boy standing in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking. So what did you want?"

"I asked if you wanted to go with me and track down our friends. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm sure we can find them outside." James announced.

"What about planning for Thursday's meeting and tidying up the lounge?" Lily questioned.

"Well the house-elves will tidy up this mess and we're only checking over the progress of the Prefect preparations, so there doesn't need to be much planning done. Besides we have until Thursday night to organize something. That's more then enough time, it won't kill you to leave it for at least one afternoon." James said then he held out his hand to help her out of her seat.

Lily gave him a soft smile, "I guess I could put it off for awhile," she replied and grabbed his hand and stood up from her chair.

James instantly felt a tingly feel come over his entire body. Not once in all the years he had known Lily Evans had she ever accepted his offered hand. She would always push it away and yell at him. Something had definitely changed between them in the past few weeks and he was happy it did. She had gone from hating him to being sort of like a friend. Calling her an actual friend, it was still too early.

Yes it was the longest time they had ever gone without a single argument and they might have been hanging out and talking more, but they had not completely reached the stage of friendship. They just were not enemies anymore and they were a bit more than just acquaintances.

James smiled at her when she accepted his offer to help her up. She smiled back at him and headed for the door. He reluctantly followed her, shutting it on his way out.

* * *

"So how'd the meeting go?" Ivory asked the approaching Head students.

It had taken Lily and James only twenty minutes to locate their friends. James had spotted the five sitting outside under an old maple tree near the shore of the lake from his bedroom window while dropping off some items in his room. From there he had gotten Lily and they had made their way down to the Hogwarts grounds.

"It went fine," Lily replied sitting down between Ivory and Remus. James picked a seat between Sirius and Peter.

"That's good," Ivory replied back.

"So what did you guys do all morning while James and I were in the meeting?" Lily asked looking around the semi-circle at the marauders and her two best friends. Everyone but Artemis was lounging about on the grass enjoying the coolness the shade of the old maple tree had brought to them.

The weather was not as cold as it had been during the week. In fact the students and staff of Hogwarts had been enjoying the warm weather of an Indian summer. It would be gone by the nightfall, when the coldness of dark would creep up and blanket the school grounds, but that was still hours away and for the time being it was rather warm outside. The only relief from the warm sun was found from the shade of a tree.

At Lily's question Artemis let out a frustrated sigh. The sigh was not just any kind of sigh; no it was signal and not a very good one at that.

You do not live and be friends with two people for six years without knowing just about everything there is to know about them. The three girls had the type friendship which was hard to come by and they knew it. They were able to read each others emotions from just a simple sigh, grunt or whatever trademark signal they had for each other and their different emotions. A sigh just happened to be Artemis' signal for when she was upset or frustrated.

'_What did I do?' _Lily asked herself when she heard Artemis' sigh. _How could Artemis be mad at her already, _she had sat down less then five minutes ago. She could not recall saying anything upsetting. _She only asked how everyone's morning went. What could be so upsetting about that? It's not like she had said something rude._

"How about we get some lunch? It's almost noon and I'm starving," Ivory commented. She knew Artemis was mad at Lily and she also knew Lily would sense something wrong. It was best for her to let those two work this out for themselves.

She had given up on being the peacemaker when they were arguing. Her peacemaking did nothing most times or made matters worse and she would be placed in an uncomfortable position. This was her out and she would drag the clueless boys with her. Besides it was a known fact that the boys would not turn down an offer for a meal from a beautiful girl.

"But you just ate like two hours ago, how could you be starving?" Sirius questioned, not paying too much attention to anything else.

"So, not all people scarf down their food and stuff themselves full the way you do Sirius Black," Artemis snapped at him and breaking her silence for the first time since Lily and James had joined them.

"What's up with you West? All I did was ask a simple question, no need to get snappy. You're not a turtle you don't have that right," Sirius said making a lame joke and hearing groans rather than laughter.

"That's not exactly the response you want after making a joke. If I'm not wrong, which is hardly ever, after a joke is told people are supposed to laugh not groan."

"Well you dolt, people usually do laugh when a joke is actually funny. That was just poor attempt at one. Here's tip for you Padfoot, stick to pranks and misbehaving, never get into comedy. You'll be done before you ever get started." Remus told his friend while everyone else accept Artemis and Sirius laughed. Sirius glared at his friend and Artemis remained silent.

"What's wrong Tem?" Lily asked her friend after noticing she was not participating in the fun.

"If you don't know then why should I tell you," Artemis retorted. The four boys looked at the two girls while Ivory placed her head in her hands.

_Why was it that everywhere Lily went arguments turned up? It was not her fault of course; maybe it had something to do with her red hair. Red heads are usually thought to have tempers and Lily was one of those people who liked debates. But of course as soon as everything starts to go right in their lives something or someone always had to ruin it._

"Come on guys I think Lily and Artemis need sometime alone," Ivory said now tugging on each of the four boy's robes. For her sake and theirs, it was best for her to get them out of there before things got to out of control.

All four boys looked at the brown haired girl and nodded their heads in agreement. As fun as it would be to see two girls fighting, it would probably be more dangerous to see an argument played out between two best friends and not to mention the fact that it was Lily and Artemis.

The four boys stood up from the grass and began walking away from the girls. Ivory stayed back for a few minutes so she could say a few words.

"I only have this to say," she began. "I expect to see you both at dinner in a happy mood and not with any unresolved issues." With that she followed the tracks of the retreating marauders and headed up to the school.

"So what's up? I can tell you are mad at me so lets just get this over with," Lily said bluntly when their friends were out of earshot.

"You think it's that simple do you?" Artemis questioned, her temper rising even more.

"Why are you so mad at me? What have I done?" Lily asked again, she had no idea why her best friend was mad at her.

"Who said it was something you did?" Artemis said.

_Why should she make this easy on Lily? She was smart enough and would eventually figure it out. If not she would get frustrated with the topic and leave it alone. But then again because of their long friendship the topic would not be completely dropped, just prolonged._

"Well then if I have done nothing wrong, why are you angry with me?" Lily demanded, staring at the darker haired girl, waiting for another pointless reply.

"You're smart, figure it out," came Artemis' reply.

"I do not want to play guessing games with you Artemis," Lily answered back, now she was getting aggravated. This back and forth bantering was getting them no where except the beginning of two massive migraines.

Both girls just stared at each other intensely for a few minutes without saying a word or blinking. This was a common practice between these two equally stubborn teenage girls when they were arguing about something.

"**OH THIS IS POINTLESS**," Lily screamed throwing her arms up in the air signaling her defeat, breaking the silence and staring contest between them. "We are both equally stubborn and that is not good when it comes to arguments. Can we just get this over with and go eat lunch. I missed breakfast today and I would rather not have dinner be my first meal. Please Tem, give me a hint," Lily begged her friend.

Seeing the pleading look in Lily's emerald green eyes, Artemis had no choice but to give in and tell her why she was mad.

_Why they even fought was beyond both their control. As stubborn as they both were, eventually they both agreed to talk about what was on their mind. _Their friendship's with each other meant more to them then winning a stupid fight and it was rare for one of them to stay mad at the other for more than a day.

"McGonagall gave me a weeks worth of detention because of you, that's why I'm mad."

"How did I get you a detention?" Lily asked— she was shocked by her friend's statement.

_What possible reason could Artemis give her that would hold her responsible? She was conducting the Prefect meeting all morning and so there was no way she could have gotten her friend in trouble. Not unless she had an evil twin running around the castle that she did not know about._

"I was defending you like a good best friend would and McGonagall did not like my choice of words or the tone of my voice," Artemis said deciding the best thing to do was get everything settle right then and there. It was time for Lily to give her some well deserved answers for her odd behaviour and this was also Artemis' chance to get out everything she had been holding back for the past two weeks.

"Why would you need to defend me?" Lily asked. She was really confused, _why did she need to be defended? She had not done anything out of the ordinary well at least she did not think so.  
_

"Are you seriously that oblivious to everything that has been going on the past few weeks? Lily you have been the talk of the school," Artemis informed her friend. Lily did not look one bit concerned about the information Artemis had just revealed. Instead Lily just shrugged her shoulders while Artemis shook her head.

"So, it seems I'm the talk of the school every other week. Why should I care about it now?"

"Because," Artemis replied getting even more frustrated. "Everyone in that damn school, (Artemis pointed up to the castle), is talking about your sudden interest in befriending the marauders. One week you're fighting with their ring leader and the next you're giggling and laughing at whatever lame prank or joke they tell you about."

"So that is no one's business but my own. I can talk to or become friends with whomever I want. I don't need permission from the student body. I would hope you of all people would understand that," Lily disputed. The red in her cheeks were starting to match the colour of her hair.

"Perhaps I would understand better if my best friend would explain to me why she suddenly changed her opinion of the marauders over night. **THE STUDENT BODY MIGHT NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW YOUR BUSINESS BUT IVORY AND I SURE AS HELL DO.**"Artemis stated raising her voice out of anger at the last part.

The echoing from raising her voice caused the silence of the outside to stir. Birds which were nesting comfortably in the tree above the girl's heads flew away as quickly as they could. The squawking and flapping from their wings was enough to wake the dead. Lily could have sworn one of the birds were squawking obscenities at her and Artemis for disturbing it.

Lily looked up at the birds flying away and felt the wind blowing through her hair. She was stalling her response as long as possible. As much as she wanted to argue that Artemis was wrong and her business was no one's but her own, however she could not. If the roles were reversed and she was yelling at Artemis about a similar situation, she knew Artemis would explain herself.

Yes, Lily, Ivory and Artemis were best friends and because of their closeness and the ground rules they set out when they were in their first year of school, Lily could not hold back. There was only one loop hole around that particular rule and that of course was, _'if know one directly asks about the situation then you do not have to reveal anything you do not want to.' _

Yet Artemis had just asked her to explain and the only answer she could offer was, "There's no reason why I have befriended the marauders, I just did. So can we drop the subject and go eat please."

Lily knew she should have told Artemis the whole truth instead of only a half truth which was more of a lie than anything, but she could not help it. She was not certain of the answers herself.

_Why had she all of a sudden felt the need to become friends with the biggest trouble makers Hogwarts had ever seen? Sure it made things much easier when she was not quarrelling with James Potter 24/7 but even she had to admit to herself, her behaviour was a bit odd. She was not positive if Sirius' words and suggestions during their detention together was the reason behind it. She still had not figured out if this was a way to get closer to Sirius himself. _

She would explain everything to her friends when she was positive of the exact reason. Until then she would stick to her original statement. Even if her friends did not entirely believe her and the look on Artemis' face was proof that she did not believe Lily.

"Fine I'll drop it for now, but mark my words you will eventually tell me what is going on—even if I have to drag it out of you one way or another," Artemis replied. She was not happy about Lily's decision, but she had no other choice. Besides she was hungry and all of this arguing was not getting them anywhere but in circles.

Artemis put on the best smile she could muster and placed her arm around her taller friend, "Let's go eat then."

Lily nodded and the two teenage girls began the walk up to the school. They both silently agreed to leave the subject for another time.

* * *

"So did you two work out your differences yet?" Ivory asked as the three girls entered Lily's bedroom, Ivory had been waiting all day to ask _that_ question. However, since they had spent most of the afternoon with the marauders, upon the request of Sirius and James of course, she had to wait until it was _just_ the girls.

And as soon as they were out of earshot of the boys, who were making secret plans in James room across the hall, it was her first question.

"We never had any differences to get over," Artemis replied as she sat down on Lily's neatly made bed. Ivory pulled up Lily's desk chair while Lily plopped down in her usual scarlet and gold armchair.

The girls were sitting in a circle facing each other, getting ready for along night of girly talks, giggling, the occasional bickering, off key sing-along, and everything else girls their age did during a girl's night in.

This was their monthly _'catch up on each others lives.' _The three girls tried to do this at the beginning of every month, so they always reserved the first Saturday night of every month to catch up with each other. This was another rule the trio had set up when they were younger.

All three had agreed to this rule at the beginning of their second year when they had lost contact over the summer. It was a night for all three girls to kick back and have fun, without worrying about relationships and school work. It was one of the main reasons why they agreed to have it on a Saturday night. There was less of a chance for anything to interfere with their monthly night of bonding.

"Really, it sure didn't seem that way, when I was trying to direct four teenage boys away from a chick fight," Ivory informed her friends, "So what is going on?"

"I'm not completely sure," Artemis answered before Lily had the chance to. "When Lily is ready to tell us, then we will know."

Lily glared at the black haired girl who had it in a messy looking braid. "I thought you agreed to drop it?"

"I did, and I haven't bothered you about it all day. Ivory was the one who brought it up and I simply said you would tell us when you are ready. There subjected is still dropped and the only reason we are talking about it further, is because of you," Artemis said in defense.

As much as she wanted to know, Artemis had to respect her friend's decision and leave the topic alone for the moment. And that's what she planned to do.

"Okay then, that topic's off limits tonight." Ivory stated taking charge of their girl's night. "I guess we will save it for November." The two girls looked away from each other and smiled at their brown haired friend.

'_What would we do without Ivory?' _Lily thought to herself. _'Probably drive each other insane?' _was the answer her mind produced.

The night went on without anymore tense moments, thanks to Ivory. The three girls spent the first hour getting caught up, but spent the rest of their time goofing off and playing silly childish games, such as truth or dare. What made the night even more fun for them was having the four marauders a crossed the hall.

The girls, during the truth or dare portion of their night, had dared each other, a countless number of times to knock and place signs on the Head Boy's door, and even walk in uninvited.

The boys on the other hand did not find the girls childish games funny and left the Head dorm around midnight to finish their secret plans in the seventh boy Gryffindor dormitory.

"Oh come on I thought you guy liked to have fun and goof off?" Artemis teased when the boys made the announcement they were going to find a quieter place.

"We do, but only when we are the ones doing it and not the other way around," Sirius answered her following the rest of his friends out of the Head common room.

"If it was my first time meeting that lot, I would swear they never dealt with teenage girls before. One of the few nights we kick back and have fun, they can't handle it." Artemis said out of amazement while waiting for Ivory to come out of the bathroom Lily and James shared. Their girl's night in had turned into a sleepover the moment the four boys left.

"Well you know how the marauders get when they're planning out their next prank," Lily reminded the two girls. She had been the first out of the three girls to change for bed. She wore warm plaid pajama pants with an old white tee-shirt. She had placed her long hair in pigtail braids.

"Is that what you think they were doing in James' room?" Ivory asked opening the bathroom door and entering into the Head common room, she too had changed into her night attire, which was a pair of warm blue and white striped pajamas and her brown hair left long.

"It's not that hard to figure out what _'secret plans'_ mean. It's code for, we are planning our next prank and we need all the brain power we can get," Artemis inputted before closing the bathroom door.

"They are boys after all," Lily and Ivory heard Artemis' muffled voice report from behind it.

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Ivory questioned sitting down next to Lily on the scarlet and gold couch while they waited for Artemis to finish changing.

"What I think Artemis is getting at is… boys are predictable," Lily informed her, finishing up Artemis' original thought. "It's a lot easier for females to figure out the minds of males. Our male counter parts rarely ever have a clue of what we're thinking."

"And exactly how do you know this?" Ivory questioned again. This was one of the common topics the three girls discussed while together and one of their favourites. It would not be a true girl bonding night if male bashing was not included. Not _that_ they were exactly bashing the male species, they were simply pointed out their weakness.

"I know this because girls are the best," Artemis boasted as she came out of the bathroom and sat down in one of the armchairs a crossed from the other two girls. Artemis had changed into a simple black tee-shirt and green pajama pants but kept her black hair in the messy braid she had worn all day. Lily and Ivory just laughed at their friend's self-centered attitude.

"Speaking of males," Lily said. She had just remembered something she had wanted to ask her friend for almost two weeks but it was always slipped her mind. "Tem, did you ever get a chance to ask your brother about Professor Blithe before my detention? Not that it really matters now."

"No, it completely slipped my mind. Oh well, it saved me from having to talk to him and it's not something we have to worry about anymore. Your detention is already done and over with," Artemis answered.

"Yeah, I know I was just curious about whether you ever made an attempt," Lily replied. "Well since we are all changed and ready for bed let's head to my room before the boys come back."

The other two nodded their heads, stood up from their seats and followed the Head Girl into her bedroom with Ivory shutting the door behind her.

The three girls settled down under the covers of their beds for the night. Lily had transfigured her armchair and desk chair into beds with blankets and pillows for her two best friends to sleep in.

The girls continued their conversations late into the night. The only sound coming from the Head dormitory was the whispering, giggling and laughing from the three girls. The marauders stayed in the Gryffindor boy's dormitory, for the night while the girls remained where they were.

It was not until after 4 A.M. when Lily, Artemis and Ivory said goodnight to each other and blew out all of the lights. It had been another successful night of girl bonding. It was too bad that it had to end so quickly, oh well there was only about 30 more days until they did it again.

* * *

© By Mythology, June 5, 2004 

Reposted, June 28, 2005


	4. Assignment and Emotions

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 4: Assignment and Emotions

"With the fifteen minutes left of class, I will use this time to pass out the next assignment," The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher announced, hearing the groans from the seventh year Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's.

The middle aged man with thinning brown-gray hair and dull blue eyes walked around the overly stuffy classroom passing out the assignment to his students.

"This assignment is worth 25 percent of your final grade. It will be a group project and all partners are final, there will be NO exchanging. Before you leave, check the list by the door so you can get in contact with your group members. Presentations will begin next week, so make sure you are ready. Read over the instruction sheet carefully and if you have any questions, you know when my office hours are. Okay class dismissed."

As soon as Professor Ori was done with them, the Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's grabbed their things and headed for the exit only briefly stopping to look at the list. It was their last class of the Tuesday afternoon and they were glad it was finally over.

"Check the list, Padfoot," James called from the back of the crowd which had assembled by the door of the classroom. "Who's in what group?"

"Hey just give me a minute Prongs. This is not an easy task you know," Sirius called back to his best friend over the heads of the other students, he roughly had to push his way through to get even a glimpse of it. "Okay let's see here,"

He was finally close enough to have a look and he decided to make it easier on everyone and began calling out the names under the six separate groups. It was Gryffindors' with Gryffindors' and Ravenclaws' with Ravenclaws'.

"Hey Prongs we're in the same group," Sirius announced looking back at his friend over the crowd wanting to see his reaction.

"That's great," James smiled, "who else is with us?"

"Um…Evans and Greenly," Sirius shouted over the murmuring students. "And Remus, you're with West, Williams and Pettigrew."

"Great now hurry up so we can head down to the Great Hall," it was Remus who had yelled out to his friend this time. Sirius nodded his head than pushed his way back through the mob to rejoin his friends.

"The groups aren't bad this time around," Peter Pettigrew said cheerfully while walking beside the other marauders down the corridor.

The boy had thin blond hair and childlike blue-eyes; he was the shortest of all the marauders and the plumpest. He most certainly was not the brightest either, however, this did not mean he was a bad person. He was simply meeker than his friends and that was okay for them. James, Sirius and Remus still accepted him and looked out for him.

"Not at all Wormtail," James agreed with a big smile plastered across his lips. It had definitely made his day when he heard Sirius announce Evans was in their group. Here was another opportunity smacking him in the face. It was another chance for Lily and him to spend more time together aside from Head duties. He had half a mind to go and thank his DADA Professor for his clever pairing choices.

"Be careful Prongs," James heard breaking his train of thought. He looked around trying to find the source of voice and his hazel eyes fell upon a smiling Remus Lupin.

"What?" James asked dumbfounded.

"I said be careful Prongs, if the smile on your face gets any wider, it will freeze like that." Remus repeated while he and the other two continued to laugh at James and his goofy grin. The four boys continued their venture to the Great Hall in search for food.

* * *

"So according to the assignment sheet, we break up our group of four into pairs. 'Two are to research a non-dangerous jinx, hex or curse, while the other two are to research a counter-spell.' Lily read the instructions to the marauders and her two best friends.

The two Head students had invited their friends back to their common room after dinner so they could get an early start on the project. It only made sense for them all to work on it together since they were all in the same two groups, the only member missing was Kenzie Williams.

The seven Gryffindor's had taken up all of the available seating in the common room. They had prepared for it to. The four boys had raided the kitchen and taken some treats for them to munch on during their study session.

"So what do we want to choose and what pairs do we want to split up in?" Lily asked looking at James, Sirius and Ivory.

"I don't know why don't we work in boy/girl combinations?" Sirius suggested, of course he had an ulterior motive. He would arrange it so James and Lily were partners while he worked with Ivory.

Lily on the other hand had her own plan, she was hoping to get the chance to work with Sirius alone and have James and Ivory pair up. It was only a matter of beating the others to picking out the partners.

"Well…," Lily began but Sirius intervened before she got the rest of it out of her mouth.

"Okay, why don't Ivory and I work together on the counter-spell and you two (Sirius nodded his head in Lily and James' direction), work on the actual curse, hex, jinx or whatever we plan to do." Before Lily had time to object to his idea the other two had hastily agreed with him. Lily could not see away to argue against it. She ran the risk of someone in the room, figuring out she liked Sirius. It was better to just leave well enough alone. Besides she and James had been working on everything together and they were a good team.

_What was one other project? They still had to work with Sirius and Ivory on occasion. And it's not like there would not be any other opportunities to talk with her crush without anyone else around._

"Well now that we have our affairs in order, what about you guys?" Sirius said bringing the other three into the discussion. It was a good thing too because Remus, Artemis and Peter were beginning to feel out of place as they watched their friends figure out what to do.

"I talked to Kenzie already," Artemis announced to everyone. "We agreed to work together as a pair so that leaves you, (Artemis gently poked her index finger into Remus' shoulder) and Peter."

"What if I don't want to work with that bloke," Remus' playfully pushed the black haired girl back. They had been sitting beside each other on couch. He had a huge grin on his face and she was laughing hysterically. However, their other group member did not find it funny. Peter gave the light brown haired boy a nasty glare

Remus' smile died away when he saw the look his plumper friend was giving him, "I was only joking of course Wormtail." At that the glare diminished on Peter's face and was replaced with a more cheery expression.

The boy laughed quietly then replied, "Yeah I know you were."

"Good now that's settled, maybe we should think about picking a spell to research." Lily said taking charge again. She was determined to get at least the first part of the project planned out tonight with or without the co-operation of the others. But James had other things in mind.

"Why don't we hold off on that for tonight?" James said unsure if it was a good idea to challenge Lily when she was in homework-mode. He did not know if she would bite his head off for suggesting it. Lily along with the other five looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"What do you mean?" Lily questioned her tone being harsher then she meant it to be.

James swallowed hard trying to push down the lump which had suddenly appeared in his throat. He did not want to start an argument with the Head Girl and by the looks of everyone else, which he noticed as he scanned the common room, they were afraid of a fight breaking out too. Lily just continued to stare at him waiting for a reply.

He had to think fast, the truth was he had no idea why he even made the suggestion. He figured they were having a good time and they had gotten a lot done already, so why did they have to plan out every little detail of an assignment on the first night. Besides it seemed impolite for his group to plan out everything while Remus' group was still missing a member.

"I only suggested it because…because…," James stuttered, "…it's not right for us to plan things out while three people among us are not in our group."

The rest of the Gryffindors waited with baited breath to hear the Head Girl's response. _Would the hot tempered redhead begin the feud between herself and James again, leading into another hurtful and exhausting war? Or would she perhaps let it slip by this time and join her friends in putting off schoolwork for one more night._

Lily blinked her eyes a few times and looked around at everyone. She locked eyes with Sirius, mentally willing him to tell her how to respond. She really did not know if she should be angry and debate with the Head Boy or if she should leave it alone.

Sirius provided her with no answers and neither did anyone else, so instead she stared into James' hazel eyes again and decided to just say the first words which came out of her mouth.

"I must say James that is very noble of you, thinking of others." Lily replied then smiled at him. "Your right it would not be good to exclude Remus, Peter and Artemis. But tomorrow our group will gather together in the library after dinner and begin working on it."

Everyone in the room including James sighed with relief at the Head Girls reply, they all immediately agreed, nodding their heads yes and murmuring a few "huh's."

With that, all seven teenagers closed their books, stuffing them along with their notes and quills into their bags before settling down and choosing a new topic of conversation.

* * *

"I think we should do the _Nelarium Pallodo_ curse," Lily said placing an open book down on the wooden table she along with Ivory, Sirius and James were working at. The four of them had been researching in the school library for over two hours, looking through a countless number of books trying to find the right spell for their DADA project.

The table they had been working at was covered in piles of books from every section in the library and there was balled up parchment littering the floor. The four Gryffindors were determined not to break off into their agreed pairs until they had found the perfect topic of research. However, it was hard to pick a topic when only two group members were working on it.

"What's that?" Ivory asked—she was the only one who actually heard what Lily had said. The two boys were busy doing other things and had not heard anything else over their own mumblings.

"According to this book," Lily said dragging her long finger across the page in the section she had read, "This curse leaves the victim vulnerable and open for other attacks by…"

Lily looked up from the library book and her eyes fell upon the two snickering boys. The scratching of a quill and the chuckling from them was what had interrupted the girl's research.

"Are you two even paying attention?" Lily asked sternly causing both boys to look up from whatever it was they were doing.

"Of course we are," Sirius answered, hoping she would believe him but deep down he knew she would not.

"Really? Then what did I just say?" Lily said crossing her arms and keeping the stern look on her face. She could not wait to hear what their reply would be. _What smart remark would these two trouble makers come up with to try and worm their way out of this._

"Um…" Sirius began looking at James willing him to answer or at least telepathically communicate a correct response for him to use.

"Are you two even paying attention?" James repeated with a large smirk as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. He managed to sneak a wink to his best friend who in return gave him a big thankful smile.

Lily looked at them both dangerously with her beautiful emerald eyes while Ivory tried to stifle her giggles. She had to admit it was a pretty good response even if Lily would not.

"That is not what I meant," Lily hissed at the boys.

"Well technically it was the correct answer," James challenged still retaining the same smug look. "You did ask us to repeat the last thing you said and that was the last thing you said."

"That may be so but it doesn't take a fool to figure out what I meant. You are a great many things Potter, arrogant is a common phrase that comes to mind, yet you're no fool."

"Thanks Evans, I'll take that as a compliment." James replied he had a feeling Lily was trying really hard not to let her temper get the better of her.

And he was right. Lily was trying her hardest not to start anything with the Head Boy, not only for her sake but for the sake of the group. Since they had become _'somewhat' _of friends she had found herself not being infuriated by his behaviour as much as before. But then again he seemed to have mellowed out a bit and opened up more as she became less _'uptight.' _

"No problem," the red head replied sarcastically.

"What were you two doing anyway?" Ivory questioned now entering into the conversation. "We know you weren't researching for the project but you were looking for something."

"If you must know," Sirius said gazing into the brown haired girl's gray-blue eyes. _'Wow she has really pretty eyes,' _Sirius thought to himself before snapping out of his trance and shaking the thoughts out of his head. "We were looking up different spells to use in the book we are writing."

"You're writing a book?" Lily questioned looking over the top of the hard cover book she was reading. She had gone back to reading over the information on the curse she wanted to use when Ivory had taken over control of the discussion. She was listening but like most girls she had the ability to multi-task and so she could read and listen at the same time.

The Head Girl found it amazing that any of the marauders could read a book nonetheless write one.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we are writing a book," James answered smugly. "It's not something you'd be interested in though, I mean it's a book for future pranksters."

"I should have known," Lily said rolling her eyes then drawing her attention back to the book in her hands and ignoring the chatter of the others. James decided to do the same only he continued to look for spells for future pranks while Ivory and Sirius got a head start on their future role as partners. The two moved closer together and a few seats down from their friends so they could carry on with their chatting without interrupting anyone.

Finally, after two more hours of silent researching from the Head students and the conversing of their two best friends, Lily made the decision to bring up the subject of what they would do for the DADA assignment again

"Alright since no one has offered to help choose the spell we are going to use," Lily put her hand up to silence everyone as they began to protest. "I have chosen one. We are going to use the _Nelarium Pallodo _curse which leaves the victims of it vulnerable by rendering them confused and immobile. In this state the caster of the curse is able to finish them off."

"And how may I ask, Miss Evans, are you suppose to counter it? That takes care of yours and James' part, what about Ivory and me?" Sirius asked seizing the chance to debate Lily's choice.

"Well I guess that means you will have some researching to do, Mr. Black," Lily replied smugly. This did not satisfy Sirius one bit and he'd be damned if he would agree to it.

"And what if I don't comply with it?" Sirius challenged.

"Well then you'll be the one explaining to Professor Ori why your portion of the project is incomplete." James said sticking in his two cents.

"Aren't you suppose to be on my side Prongs?" Sirius joked knowing his friend was only disagreeing with him because he felt it was right.

"Only when it is worth while defending Padfoot," James answered back.

The two boys were not arguing with each other, in fact it was quite the opposite. They were using a light-hearted tone of voice as they teased each other. This was something they often did when discussing anything do with homework.

"Sirius it is not difficult to find a spell to counter it, for example a simple shielding charm will work." Lily inputted breaking up the boys pointless bantering.

Lily had often observed the friendship between these two boys and it always managed to astonish her. She found the marauder's friendship to be similar to the ones she had with Artemis and Ivory. Like the girls, a friendship like the marauders was hard to come by.

"Ahem," the four teenagers heard a familiar authoritative voice sound from behind them. They all turned around in their seats to look at Madam Pince, the school librarian. She _'was a thin, irritable woman, who looked like an underfed vulture,' (description from CS, 124)._ She had her dark suspicious eyes locked on the students in front of her.

The school librarian trusted few students to sign out books from her library and if she made the rules when it concerned the library, the students would have to pay a sickle for everyday a book came back late and she would even ban certain students from the library all together. But since she only watched over the library and had no real say, she had no choice but to allow all of the students to take out books. After all there would really be no point to having a school library if students were not allowed to take the books out. However, she was given full authority when it came to lending out the books and the students had to go through a grueling twenty minute sign out and sign in process. She inspected the books before they left her sight and again when they returned.

"The library closes in 10 minutes, so I suggest you four get finished up and then head off," her voice was severe and she individually eyed them down making sure they were not hiding anything. Her eyes lingered on both Sirius and James longer than Ivory and Lily.

"We are done now, Madam Pince. But I would like to sign this out, please," Lily reported handing over the dark brown tattered hard cover library book she had been reading earlier. The librarian's attention was diverted to the book the red haired girl had just given her.

"Very well, follow me, the rest of you, (she pointed at them with one of her long bony fingers), clear off," with that she walked over to her desk and began the checking out process.

"I'll see you guys later." Lily said packing up her stuff and making her way over to the check out desk. James, Sirius and Ivory packed up their stuff and left.

* * *

"Where is everybody?" Lily asked Sirius as she sat down in the desk beside him. They were sitting in one of the many study chambers throughout Hogwarts and to their luck they were the only ones in it too.

There were at least two study chambers for the students to use on every floor of the school and the one the two seventh years happen to occupy was one on the ground floor. Each chamber was decorated in the same fashion as the library, bookshelves on every wall containing a copy of every text book from first year up until seventh year. There was one circular window at the very top of three of the gray stone walls, and a total of six groups of four wooden desks.

Many students used the chambers when the library, Great Hall and common rooms were full. It was the designated area for students during their Study Period which was only offered to the Sixth and Seventh years.

"Well Remus and Peter went on a kitchen raid, they will be back soon," with this Lily noticed that the two boys had left their belongings behind on the desks across from hers' and Sirius'. "And James was asked but more like forced into helping McGonagall teach the second years how to transfigure string into worms."

"I remember doing that lesson," Lily said reminiscing from her past. "It took me fifteen minutes to get mine to transfigure properly. I was so mad at you and James when you two managed to accomplish it on the first and second try while it took me five."

Lily hated knowing there was something school related James was better at than her. She did not mind so much when it came to Sirius because she felt less threaten by it. But when it involved James, she always felt jealousy take over her rational side. Lily's best friends had lost count over the years of how much time Lily had spent complaining that James was better at Transfigurations than her.

She and James had been competing with each other since first year. No one knew the exact reason why these two intelligent people had become competitors or even enemies, what everyone did know, was that it had happened. Lily and James themselves were not entirely sure how or why everything ended up the way it did between them, truth was they really did not care either. The only thing they were concerned with nowadays was their growing friendship and being able to balance it out with their completive side.

"Yeah well you can't be perfect at everything, besides you're slightly more gifted at Charms than Prongs is anyway. So it eventually works out evenly," Sirius commented.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," was Lily's reply. "So how far did you and Ivory get with your half of the project?"

"Merlin Evans, we just picked a topic yesterday. How much do expect us to get done in less than 24 hours?" Sirius asked the Head Girl.

"Well I figured you would have at least picked a spell to counter it by now." Lily stated her expectations to the older boy. _'It can't be too much to ask for some co-operation from my group members can it?'_ Lily thought to herself after she spoke to Sirius.

Sirius stared at her as if she had grown a tail or an extra a head. "What?"

Lily shrugged hoping she did not have an extra body part or suddenly gained something not on her original anatomy. _You never can trust any of the marauders alone or in a group_. One of them could have easily bewitched the chair she was sitting in and now she could have some weird hair do or just about anything.

"What?" Lily repeated this time almost yelling it. She hated it when people stared at her even if it was a good looking boy.

"Nothing I just can't believe you expected us to begin that fast," Sirius blurted out.

"I thought this because I saw you and Ivory talking together at breakfast and figured you two were discussing your portion of the assignment," Lily said, jealousy overcoming her. The more she thought about seeing them talking together at breakfast the more jealous she felt. Sirius and her might not be dating but she still felt a little over-protective of him because she liked him. And it really did not matter if it was one of her best friends talking to her crush or some random girl.

"So not every conversation involves homework, I'm sure you and James talk about other things besides homework or duties," Sirius replied. "But just to make you feel better Ivory and I plan to get started on our part after dinner."

"Good," Lily replied, she was in a bit of a daze. _'Ivory and I plan to get started on our part after dinner,' _these words kept repeating through Lily's head as she read the book she was using to research the _Nelarium Pallodo_ curse. She had pulled it out of her bag when she had sat down.

Lily and Sirius sat in complete silence for a long time; both were working on homework of some kind. Lily was of course researching for the DADA assignment and Sirius was finishing up the last two inches of his History of Magic essay which was a biography on Nearly Headless Nick.

The seventh year students were to research the life of one of the many Hogwarts ghosts. Nearly Headless Nick who was the resident Gryffindor ghost just happened to be Sirius' along with half the other seventh year Gryffindors choice to research. James chose a different topic and somehow managed to con Peeves into telling his story. Lily chose to do her essay which she had done the day after the assignment was assigned on Professor Binns who was in fact the History of Magic teacher.

Lily of course was teased by her two best friends along with the marauders about her choice and they began calling her a teachers-pet which was all in good-hearted fun. Lily knew they did not mean any harm by it. She really did not care much just as long as they did not take it too far.

"So…I have noticed that you've been taking my advice," Sirius said breaking the long silent pause between them while he finished up the last paragraph of his History essay.

He needed a topic for small talk and it was something he had wanted to discuss with the Head Girl for weeks now. However, this was the first time they had had a chance to speak without the rest of their friends around. Not that they were keeping it a secret from everyone or anything. It just seemed better to keep it between Sirius and Lily rather then bring everyone else into the mix.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked looking up from her book her expression clearly showing bewilderment.

"You and James," Sirius simply stated. "You two are getting along better. I'm glad to see it."

Lily almost laughed at Sirius' bold statement. _'He can be just as arrogant and egoistical as James sometimes but in a cute way of course,' _Lily thought to herself as she tried to stifle her giggles.

"You're really full of yourself, aren't you?" Lily said smiling. It was the only way she could keep from openly laughing at his boldness.

"I would rather be over-confident than not. It's less exhausting and I heard the _Ladies _prefer confidence over insecurity," Sirius stated proudly, blowing on the tips of his fingers then rubbing them on the front of his school robes to empathize his confident side.

At this Lily began to laugh out loud rather than trying to hide it. This was one of the reasons she liked hanging out with Sirius and the marauders, they could make her laugh.

It was also one of the reasons why she developed a crush on him. He was the funniest one of the group; Remus was more of the serious one while James was the one with all of the brains but still had _that_ bad boy vibe.

"But seriously, I'm happy for you and James. You have made great progress and you two seem happier than you were at the beginning of the term." Sirius commented directing the conversation back to her and James' new _'relationship.'_

Lily was confused by Sirius' statement, _what exactly did he mean by 'I'm happy for you and James?' Did Sirius think his best friend was now dating the Head Girl? Did James lie to his friends about issues involving Lily?_ If James was spreading things that were not true or even if it was anyone else, Lily had to set the record straight with Sirius about what was going on between his best friend and her.

"Sirius, there is nothing between James and me. We're barely friends." Lily simply stated. Who knew what guys talked about when they were not in the presence of the opposite sex, things could get blow out of portion when male bonding was involved.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Lily I know perfectly well there is nothing going on between you and James besides what you have already mentioned. You two are slowly getting over a rivalry which has existed since first year. James would tell me if something was going on with you two."

Lily felt a bit of relief from Sirius' words. It was good to know James was as trustworthy as he came off to be. Not that she really suspected him of anything. She only began to worry because Sirius had confused her.

"Well now that we have cover all the usual topics we talk about, how are things with you Lily?" Sirius asked finding a new subject matter.

It was sometimes hard for the marauders to talk with the Head Girl and her friends because the virtually knew nothing about each other. Yeah Lily and James could find things to talk about now almost without the awkward silence. Remus and Artemis barely left any topic untouched during their discussions. Sirius even had to admit he and Ivory easily connected when it came to conversing with one another. However, it was a different story when it came to being one on one with someone else.

"I'm good," Lily answered. "Maybe a little confused by certain things and stress out with the coming up Hogsmeade weekend and everything I have planned, but other than that I am doing pretty good."

"That's one of the perks of being a teenager; we're all confused by one thing or another I guess," Sirius said wisely. There were very few times Sirius managed to amaze people with his intelligent side and when he did it was something worth hearing.

Lily gave Sirius another small smile. "Yeah that's true," she agreed then looked up at the clock hanging over the door of the study chamber.

"Look at the time," Lily said pointing a finger up to the clock while Sirius looked into the direction.

"Yeah so its 4:30" Sirius said shrugging, "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is, our study period is over and we did absolutely nothing. Anyways I have to go and put my things away," Lily announced getting up from her seat, grabbing her bag and books, "see you at dinner then."

She headed towards the exit leaving Sirius alone again as she headed up to the Head's dormitory. Shortly after she left Remus and Peter entered and all three boys gathered up their things and made their way to Gryffindor Tower, with Remus and Peter explaining their current raid of the kitchens to the darker haired boy.

* * *

'_What should I do? Should I ask him and get it over with? What are the chances he'll agree? What if he doesn't? What on earth should I do?'_ These thoughts had constantly being plaguing Lily's mind ever since Thursday afternoon.

She had spent a lot of her free time that particular weekend debating with herself about whether or not she should ask Sirius to accompany her to Hogsmeade. It was only a week away after all. If she was going to ask him she had to do it quickly, before some other girl got to him first.

After spending her Study Period on Thursday afternoon talking with Sirius, even though it was a little awkward, she somehow felt more of a connection between them. Whether Sirius felt anything similar she had no idea.

She had spent every free moment she had that weekend locked in her room with a new book in her hands. She found it to be very interesting but at the same time she had too much on her mind which affected her concentration.

'_Carter Hall looked abandoned. Jenny had been sure Tam Lin would be there. She sat on the edge of the old stone bench, La Rose's reins in her hand. The freebooters had unsettled her so, she was afraid to let go. The thought that she might have made this trip for nothing was more than she could bear,' (from the book An Earthy Knight, by Janet McNaughton, 130). _Lily had reread the same paragraph for the third time without even thinking. Looking over the paragraph for a fourth time finally brought her back to her senses.

"What am I doing?" She asked out loud expecting to get no answer back. _'I can't read this right now,' _she thought while closing her book and setting it down beside her on her red bedcovers. She stretched out her legs then got up from the bed and went over to the window.

Lily stared out at the dark night sky. The light from the nearly full moon shone brightly over the Hogwarts grounds. The sight was one which Lily thought to be spectacular and rare. With as many moons as she had seen she seldom got to see one with no clouds passing over it.

Lily walked back over to her bed and picked up the book she had been reading, she studied over the paperback cover before turning towards the nightstand beside her bed and placing it down gently. It was late and tomorrow was a school day,_ 'perhaps I should get to sleep. No doubt James is already snoring with the rest of the school.'_ Lily pulled out the hair tie in her long red thick hair, got into bed and under the covers, then took her wand from the nightstand beside her and said the spell to extinguish the candles in her room.

She laid there in the dark for at least half-an-hour again debating to ask Sirius out. _'This is silly,'_ she thought. _'I have never been afraid of talking to a boy and I will be damned if I will allow myself to be this time. The worst that could happen is Sirius saying no. THAT'S it I will just ask him tomorrow and get it over with.'_

She had finally come to a decision. She would ask Sirius tomorrow before the day was done. With her mind made up Lily turned over on her side and fell into a restful sleep.

* * *

"You've been absent this weekend, what have you been doing?" Artemis inquired as Lily sat down across from her at the Gryffindor table.

"You did see me, so I haven't been that absent," Lily said pouring some orange juice into the goblet in front of her plate. She then grabbed some toast from a near by platter and buttered the two pieces before cutting them in half diagonally and taken bite out of one.

She took a drink from her goblet and replied with, "I was interested in finishing the book I started. You know how I get when it comes to a new piece of literature. I become a regular bookworm."

"Lily, no matter what you do you're always a bookworm," Artemis said both her and Ivory began laughing at her comment.

"Yeah laugh it up. Its really funny," Lily scowled at her friends and their amusement. "Unlike you two I rarely ever get bored."

"We might get bored more often but at least we have fun," Artemis retorted.

"I have fun," Lily replied in defense, she knew they were only joking around. "It just so happens the type of fun I enjoy is less eventful then what you're use to."

"Okay Miss Uneventful grab the rest of your toast and let's head off to Transfigurations I need to look over your notes from last week before class," Artemis said standing up from her seat and grabbing her bag.

"Sure lets go then," Lily said sticking the remaining piece of toast in her mouth then grabbing her bag as well. The three girls made there way to the exit up to the first floor and to the Transfigurations classroom and spent the next fifteen minutes looking over each others notes.

* * *

Lily had been nervous ever since she woke up. She found it hard to concentrate during her Double Transfigurations class which caused her to ask Ivory for hers. Ivory of course agreed but only after she had asked Lily if she was okay at least five times. It was a good thing her nervousness did not affect her performance during Double Charms when Professor Flitwick asked the Head Girl to demonstrate the charm they were learning.

At dinner Lily had suggested their group get together to practice for DADA presentation for the next day and they had all agreed to meet in the Head common room when they were finished eating and had gathered their stuff. It would be a long night and the group had until tomorrow to get everything sorted out and perfected. The more time they spent on it, the more prepared they would be.

Like the night before, Lily decided she was going to talk to Sirius. Eventually she would have a chance to be alone with him and she would use it to her advantage. The only thing that seemed to be bugging her about the whole situation was the nervousness she felt every time she thought about.

It was indeed silly, Lily Evans, one of the most confident girls in school felt nervous about asking a boy out. However, this was something new for her. She only heard about the wonders of dating from her friends and other girls she talked to. The last crush Lily had had on a boy was when she was thirteen and even then she admired him from a distance. Though the crush she had on Sirius was much different from the one she had three years before because she had liked a boy who she barely talked to other than once in awhile. Sirius was one of her newfound friends who she hung out with on a daily basis.

Lily looked up from the cough she was sitting on in the Head common room while waiting for the other to arrive. She heard the door open with a loud creek and in entered James, Sirius and Ivory who shut the door again.

"I was wondering if you three got lost on the way up here or something," Lily said moving over to the far end of the scarlet couch to make room the rest of her group members.

"Ivory took her time grabbing her things," James and Sirius said in union. Ivory's cheeks grew read and she looked away from them.

"Well anyway let's get to work," Lily said bending down and grabbing her books off the coffee table in front of her. She had brought them out before the others had gotten there.

"Okay James and I have been working on our part of the project since Thursday night and we are done. What about you two? Did you finish your research?" Lily asked getting down to business.

"Yeah we did all the research over the weekend and choose the Shielding Charm," Ivory answered while the two boys were having an imaginary sword fight with their quills. The girls watched the boys battle it out with each other for several minutes. Finally getting annoyed with their behaviour, Lily took a near by pillow from off the floor, (which is where she had thrown them to make more room), and began attacking James who was sitting beside her. Ivory followed her example, grabbed the other pillow and began hitting Sirius.

Both boys stopped beating up on each other and cover their hands over their faces to protect themselves from the aggressive girls. Once Lily and Ivory were sure they had gotten the boys attention and after the boys surrendered, the girls threw the pillows back on the floor and picked up where they had left off.

It took all four of them to go over and practice their parts of the research as if they were giving the presentation two hours until it was perfect or at least perfect enough for Lily. It took them another two hour-and-a-half to practice casting the spells.

It was around midnight when the group finally concluded their study session and way past curfew for the seventh years. James went straight to bed whereas Lily agreed to walk Sirius and Ivory to Gryffindor Tower. It was a precautionary method just incase Filch happened to caught them out of bed. Lily was there simply to provide an excuse.

The three seventh year Gryffindors made it to Gryffindor Tower without any interruptions. Lily gave the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady, (Slytherins are gits), and it swung open to reveal a round hole in the wall. The three seventh years climbed through it and it shut behind them.

"I don't know about you two but I am dead on my feet. I'm heading up to bed before the sunrises." Ivory said as soon as they entered the common room. The brown haired girl said her goodnight and went up the girl's staircase to the seventh year girl's dormitory.

"Night," Lily and Sirius said as they watched their group member head up the staircase then sat down on one of the scarlet couches in the common room of Gryffindor Tower.

It was late but both of them were not ready to go to bed yet and Lily still had to ask Sirius if he would go with her to Hogsmeade.

Now was her chance. If she was going to do there was no time like the present. However, those damn butterflies flying around in her stomach were making it really difficult. _Why did she have to get nervous so easily?_ It was now or never.

"Sirius?" Lily said breaking the silent pause between them and trying to overcome her uneasy feeling.

"Yeah," the older boy asked giving her his undivided attention.

"Um…well…you…see…I…was…wondering," Lily stuttered, she tried very hard to gain control of her words before continuing. "I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me on the Hogsmeade weekend."

She was finally able to get out the question without any trouble but did not wait for Sirius to reply, "It would be as friends of course. I'm only suggesting it because everyone else is going with someone."

Lily could see the shock etched across Sirius' face. She could tell that whatever he anticipated her to ask him he surely was not expecting it to be a date. He sat there for a few minutes with a stunned expression, opening and closing his mouth as if to answer her but could find no reply.

"I…um…," Sirius stuttered but then bluntly said. "I already asked someone."

"Oh…I," Lily said taking a deep breath. "…I had no idea. Okay I officially feel stupid."

Lily now felt hurt. She should have asked him earlier or not at all. She stood up from the couch feeling dazed and confused. "It's…its getting late I should head back to my own dorm. Talk to you tomorrow," Lily said waving her hand at Sirius still in a puzzled state of mind.

She began walking towards the portrait hole when Sirius called out to her. She turned around quickly wiping away the rogue tears which had formed in her eyes. "What?" she asked hoping he could not hear the hurt in her voice and she refused to look directly at him. She had her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm sorry I didn't know…" Sirius stopped short on his sentence when he saw the look on her face. She looked so hurt and vulnerable. It made him feel like shit. He had no idea Lily had liked him and it was not something he wished to know either. _'What would James say if he knew this? He would be really hurt.' _

Sirius had to think of something to fix and quick. "Perhaps you could ask James," he blurted out hoping this suggestion would put everything right. "I know he doesn't have a date yet."

"I don't know…perhaps I will go alone. It's not a big deal if I don't go with someone." Lily said her tone of voice was a mixture of anger and sadness. She still refused to look at Sirius. "I really should go before I get in trouble."

Lily turned back towards the portrait hole and left the Tower as quickly as possible not giving Sirius a chance to reply. She swiftly made her way down the dark corridor and to the Head dorm and entered without making a sound. She ran to her room and threw herself on her bed trying with all her might not to let any of her emotions out. She had never been this emotional about anything in her life and she was damn if she was going to allow it happen now.

'_I will not cry. I will not cry.'_ She repeated over and over in her head and wiped away as many tears as possible. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds calming down as best she could. She sat on her bed not moving or crying, just listening. Listening to the silence and waiting for her moment of weakness to pass. Actually she was hoping for it to pass more than she was waiting.

When she felt calm enough and almost back to her old self, Lily got up from her bed and changed into her pajamas. What she needed most of all right now was sleep. It would do her some good and help her sort out her thoughts. Whatever she did not figure out before falling asleep she would be better able to handle it in the morning. The last thing she thought about before falling to sleep was, _'maybe I will ask James.'_

* * *

© By Mythology, June 25, 2004 

Reposted, June 28, 2005


	5. Life Can Be Complicated

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 5: Life Can Be Complicated

After Lily had left the Gryffindor common room a very confused and stunned Sirius got up from the couch he was sitting on and went up the staircase to his dormitory. He pushed the wooden door open and entered the room. He needed to talk to Remus and fast, even if the younger boy was sleeping._ This was an emergency and required more than one brain. _

Sirius walked over to the side of Remus' bed and began to shake him awake, "Moony, Moony, come on get up I need to talk to you." Sirius said only receiving a frustrated grunt from his tired friend. The full moon was a day away and Remus need all the rest he could get.

None of the marauders, including Sirius would wake up their werewolf friend while he was sleeping this close to the full moon unless it was absolutely necessary. But this was a dire situation and could not wait.

"Come Moony get up, this is important," Sirius said again shaking his friend harder. Remus grunted again and turned over his back now facing Sirius who let out an irritated sigh.

"Go talk to James," Peter mumbled from the next bed. He had awoken when he heard Sirius trying to get a response out of Remus.

Sirius turned around and stared at the lump under the scarlet and gold covers on the other side of him. The room was pitch-black excluding the moonlight pouring in from the window. "I can't talk to Prongs because this involves him," Sirius replied, finally being able to get the attention of Remus who immediately sat up in his bed.

"What do you mean Padfoot?" A very tired and pale looking Remus asked. He adjusted his pillows so he could sit up more comfortably while listening to his friend's dilemma.

"Lily asked me to accompany her to the Hogsmeade weekend," Sirius blurted out without any persuasion from the other two. Both Peter and Remus let out a surprise gasp when they heard what Sirius had said. In all of the six years they had spent at Hogwarts none of the marauders would have ever expect Lily Evans to develop a crush on Sirius, Remus maybe but not Sirius.

"What?" Remus asked shaking his head and making sure he had heard right. '_How can that be? How could Lily ask Sirius on a date when it was clear James fancied her to no end?' _He thought.

"Lily asked me out," Sirius repeated sitting down on the edge of Remus' double four-poster bed.

"What did you say to her?" Remus' questioned, hoping Sirius did not respond stupidly to Lily causing another rift between her and the marauders.

"I told her I had asked someone else out," Sirius replied.

"Please tell me you didn't lie to her Padfoot," Remus said resting his head in his hand and closed his eyes for a few seconds. _Just what the marauders would need Lily mad at them all because of Sirius' insensitivity. If Sirius did anything to hurt Lily it would not be just him who would suffer from it; they all would._

Sirius received uncertain looks from both Peter and Remus who were awaiting his answer. _'Some friends they are.' _Sirius thought to himself then giving the doubtful boys his response, "Do you honestly think I would lie to the Head Girl about something like that? Yes I did ask another girl, even if I hadn't and Lily still asked me I wouldn't have lied to her."

Remus and Peter both let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know, the only question that remains now is what else did you say to her and how did she react?" Remus demanded.

"Well," Sirius said taking a deep breath then letting it out, "I apologized, but the look on her face was so hurtful. The only thing I could get out before she ran off was suggesting she ask James to go with her."

"You suggested for her to ask James?" Remus repeated now looking at Sirius in surprise. Talking to his slightly older friend was making his head hurt.

"I kind of just blurted it out but what's the problem? If she does ask him to go with her, it works to Prongs' advantage right?" Sirius asked oblivious to the problem.

"It might Padfoot but do you realize how betrayed not to mention pissed off he'll be when he finds out," Remus answered rubbing his temples.

"Yeah but who said he was going to find out. I'm not going tell him and neither will you two, right?" Sirius replied hoping for reassurance from his friends.

"You know we won't say anything, I sure as hell don't want to feel James' raft but are you certain Lily won't?" Remus pointed out.

"I don't think she'll say anything to Prongs about it," Sirius said confidently. However, the look on Remus face quickly replaced his confidence with doubt. _How could he be sure Lily would not say anything? _"Do you think she'll mention it to him?"

"Put it this way Sirius, girls are difficult and unpredictable. There is no telling what a pissed off girl—especially one with red hair—emerald green eyes and goes by the name Lily Evans, will do or say when she is angry," Remus explained. "Most times girls don't think about what they say when their upset. They blurt out the first thing that comes to mind and refuse to think about the consequence until they have calmed down."

"What am I suppose to do then?" Sirius groaned standing up from Remus' bed and began pacing in front of it.

"You have to talk to her and set things right before its too late," Remus replied in an all knowing tone. His brown eyes following his pacing friends every move.

"Moony I can't talk to her. I would rather face your werewolf form in person then a pissed off Lily," Sirius whined not realizing how much his remark had hurt Remus.

Remus tried to avoid reminders of his dangerous side as much as possible. Yet it was hard to do with the full moon so close. Sirius' comment, even if he meant no harm, still hurt him a lot.

"I'm so sorry Remus," Sirius quickly apologized after rethinking his previous statement. He really was sorry. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You asked for my help and that's all I have to offer," Remus replied his voice barely above a whisper. He was becoming annoyed with Sirius and this discussion. Maybe it was his lack of sleep, the wolf in him trying to get out or perhaps Sirius' thoughtlessness. Whatever it was he figured he should end this conversation before he said something equally as hurtful but unlike Sirius he would mean it. "It's your choice to take it or not."

"I really appreciate it." Sirius replied now feeling like shit for hurting one of his best friends. Hopefully after a good night sleep Remus would forgive him.

Sirius solemnly made his way to his own bed when he heard Remus' voice call to him. He turned around and stared through the darkness at his friend's bed. The only sound he could hear was the snores of a sleeping Peter through the silence.

"I'm not mad at you," Remus said loud enough for Sirius to hear over Peter's snoring. Almost immediately Sirius felt one weight lifted off his shoulders and sent a thankful smile Remus' way.

Remus smiled back, said '_Goodnight'_ then laid back down. "By the way Padfoot you never said who you're taking to Hogsmeade this weekend," he inquired.

Sirius, by now, was comfortable in his own bed and under his covers. "Ivory," he yawned simply then fell asleep.

Remus knew he was zonked out because he could hear the peaceful breathing coming from the other side of the room. Good hearing was one of the few blessings to come from his lycanthropy. _'Sirius said he asked Ivory,' _Remus thought to himself. _'Why is that name sound familiar? Oh shit! He asked Ivory Greenly, shit…shit…shit. Things just got more complicated.'_

* * *

Remus woke up the next morning to the sound of shuffling and water running in the distance. _Never again would he let Sirius wake him up late. _He felt as if he had gotten absolutely no sleep, which was not good for him with the full moon tomorrow night.

He tiredly sat up in bed, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and peered through the small opening in the hangings around his bed, only to see the outline of someone's face.

"AHHHHHHH! What the hell?" Remus cursed, hitting his head off the headboard. He heard Peter burst out in laughter while he rubbed the back of head. _It was too earlier in the morning for this._

"Sorry Moony," Peter managed to get out between his snickers and trying too sound as sincere as possible. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Whatever Wormtail," Remus grumbled pulling back the hangings all the way and getting out of bed. He went over to his dresser, opened the top drawer grabbing a clean Hogwarts uniform and robes then opened the bottom drawer taking out clean blue and white boxer shorts. "How long has Sirius been in the shower?"

"About ten minutes," Peter answered grabbing his bag off the messy room floor. "You two might want to hurry if you want breakfast."

"We'll be down soon," Remus said walking over to the bathroom door and knocking. The two boys heard the water turn off.

"Alright see you down there then," Peter announced slinging his green and black bag onto his shoulder.

"Yeah okay," Remus said waving to him while watching the bathroom door.

Peter was already out the door when Remus called him back. He turned around and poked his head through the open doorway waiting to hear the reason for his return. "Yeah?" he said.

"Reminder," Remus responded. "Don't say anything to Prongs about Lily asking Sirius out, okay." Remus wanted to make sure James did not find out. Peter nodded his head then left the room again heading down to the Great Hall.

Only moments after Peter left Sirius opened the bathroom door allowing Remus to enter. "Sleep well Moony," Sirius greeted looking at the lighter haired boy in mirror.

Sirius was standing at the white porcelain antique sink with a gold towel wrapped around his slender waist, shaving cream covered the bottom half of his face, ready to be scraped away. His dark brown hair was already dried and spiked.

"I would of slept better if it wasn't for your midnight _'girl talk,'_" Remus grumbled stepping into the shower fully clothed. Even though they had been best friends for years, they still kept certain things private.

Remus pulled the blue shower curtain securely around undressed then dropped the discarded clothes in a pile on the floor outside of the shower stall. He turned on the water and got his refreshing shower.

After fifteen minutes of washing, shampooing, conditioning and rinsing, Remus turned off the water, wrapped his own golden-coloured towel around his waist and stepped out of the stall. Sirius was no longer in the bathroom which gave Remus the opportunity to change. There was no point in him shaving this close to a full moon because he would just have to do it again in two days, so he remained scruffy.

When he opened the bathroom door he was shocked to see Sirius sitting on his bed waiting. Usually he would be down in the Great Hall with Peter and James stuffing his face right now.

"You waited for me?" Remus asked gathering up the textbooks and quills he needed.

"Yep! Figured you could use the company," Sirius said avoiding eye contact. This was a dead giveaway that Sirius was lying. Each marauder had the gift of lying or stretching the truth when it came to other people (excluding Dumbledore), apart from each other. The boys had been friends for so long, they knew when another marauder was lying.

"You're avoiding Lily," Remus stated handing Sirius his bag which he grabbed then picked up his own.

Without hesitation Sirius nodded his head yes and took his bag from Remus' hand. _It was no use in denying the truth because he knew Remus would see right through it._

"That's what I thought," Remus said. "Come on, it's too late to go to breakfast but we have enough time to get to our first class."

Remus left their dorm headed down the spiral stone stairs and through the common room and portrait hole with Sirius beside him.

"Was I dreaming or did you tell me you're going with Ivory this weekend," Remus asked figuring it would be a good time to bring up this issue.

"No you weren't dreaming, I really am going with Ivory," Sirius said proudly.

"Did you tell Lily this," Remus asked in a serious tone.

"No why would I?" Sirius asked confused. _Why would it matter if he told Lily he was going with Ivory? It was none of her business._

Remus sighed and pushed back his hair with his left hand. _Sometimes he felt talking to Sirius was like talking to a brick wall. He would probably get better a response out of the wall than Sirius._

"You git, Lily is going to be even more upset when she finds out Ivory is going with you. This could cause a rift between them. Do you really want to be responsible for that?" Remus explained hoping Sirius would understand.

"Well what do you propose I do? I'm not going to break my date with Ivory, I actually like her." Sirius responded.

"There's not much you can do except talk to Lily," Remus firmly stated. _Sirius was going to talk to Lily by the end of the day even if he had to supervise it._

Remus and Sirius had finally reached the greenhouses and were the first one outside waiting for Professor Sprout and the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

* * *

"We decided for our half of the group project…" Lily began pointing to James and herself, "…to do the _Nelarium Pallodo_ curse."

It was Tuesday afternoon and the seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were in the last class of the day which was Defense Against the Dark Arts. There was only one more presentation to go before the class was to end and it was Lily, James, Ivory and Sirius' turn.

"This curse was invented by Monday Nellisons back in 1730 when he was trying to invent another form of a tickling charm. He was working in his lab with an assistant when he said the spell he was working on backwards by accident. When the newly discovered curse hit the unfortunate assistant, it left them confused and immobile," Lily explained to the class. She had memorized all the information she read unlike James who had to look at notes he had made.

"The curse is usually used when dueling and when it is cast, the victim is left vulnerable allowing the initial caster with the opportunity to finish the duel." James read his notes..

"There is only one way to take the curse off and that is if the original caster says the curse backwards, _Odollap Muiralen,"_ James ended his part and allowing Sirius and Ivory to finish with theirs.

"For our part of the project…" Ivory began, "…Sirius and I had to try and find a spell which would prevent the curse from hitting us and we decided to use a common spell which most magical folk are aware of."

"The Shield Charm, we found, easily deflects the curse by causing a magical barrier." Sirius finished off the informational part of the project only to move on to the demonstrations.

Lily and Ivory paired off first. "_Nelarium Pallodo," _Lily yelled pointing her ten and quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow wand at Ivory. A blue and white light shot out of her wand and hit Ivory in the chest.

Ivory felt a tingling feeling flow through her body, she was not sure what was going on or even where she was. She could not move any part of her body either and had no idea why.

"_Odollap Muiralen," _Lily yelled. Ivory could feel the confusion leaving her mind and gained control her limbs again.

"That was a demonstration showing the effect the _Nelarium Pallodo_ curse. James and Sirius will now perform a demonstration showing how the curse can be blocked," Lily said.

James and Sirius stood in front of the DADA class facing each other. "_Nelarium Pallodo,_" James said, pointing his eleven inches long, mahogany, pliable wand. He had it aimed at Sirius chest.

"Protego," Sirius yelled and a magical barrier was placed between himself and James' curse. The blue and white stream of light bounced of the barrier and headed back in James' direction which missed him by an inch because he ducked down just in time.

"That is our project," Ivory concluded over the applause from the class. The four seventh years returned to their seats waiting for their Professor to release them for the day.

"Brilliant presentations to all of you, I must admit, I am very pleased to see how much work and effort went into them. There is only five minutes left of class so I will dismiss you early. Have good day," Professor Ori announced. He was quite happy with his pupils' work and it was the least he could do for them.

"Go talk to Lily," Remus whispered in Sirius ear as they stood up from their desks and began making their way to the door. Lily had stayed behind to have a few words with the Professor after she told everyone to go on without her.

Artemis and Ivory had been two of the first people out the door and down the corridor when the teacher gave them permission to leave. The marauders, on the other hand were some of the last ones to leave.

After many protests against Remus' insistence, Sirius decided it would probably be less torturous if he talked to Lily rather then continue to listen to Remus.

"Fine I'll talk to her," Sirius whispered back harshly then waved to Remus to go. If he was going to do this he needed privacy.

Remus nodded his head then left the room and went to catch up with James and Peter who were already half way down the hall.

Sirius did not leave. Instead he waited outside of the classroom for Lily and Professor Ori to finish their conversation. It was five minutes before Sirius saw the red head emerge from the classroom and walked a little ways down the dimly lit corridor.

"Lily," Sirius called standing up and walking over to her. She had turned around to see who had called her name and when she saw it was Sirius, she turned away and continued walking.

"Lily," Sirius repeated now picking up his pace in order to catch up to the fast retreating Head Girl. _How the hell would he be able to talk to her if she was avoiding him?_

"Lily stop, we need to talk," Sirius repeated again hoping this time the stubborn girl would listen.

Lily did stop. However, she refused to look at Sirius. Instead she stood facing the opposite direction. When Sirius drew closer to her and walked around to face her she turned away. Sirius circled around her at least three times before ending up in the same position he started in.

"Come on, Lily, look at me. We need to discuss this." Sirius said getting irritated. They were a little old to be playing ring-around-the-rosy.

She still would not look at him. Sirius grabbed her gently by the shoulders and turned her around himself so he could look her in the eye. She did indeed look him in the eye but the glare he received from her pretty face was pure malice. Her stare was so cold it made him cringe. Those usually vibrate emerald green eyes were fuming with anger and a hint of embarrassment.

"Fine, you have my attention," Lily hissed at the older boy. Her tone was barely above a whisper but it definitely got the point across to Sirius that she was upset and in no mood to talk.

Sirius immediately backed off. Neither he nor anyone else would have the guts to face this specific hot tempered red head, not even Godric Gryffindor himself.

"You have thirty seconds," Lily hissed again.

_How should he begin an unwanted conversation without upsetting her even more?_ "Um…um…,"Sirius started to say. _He needed something more intelligent than um if he wanted the Head Girl to listen to him._

"Look Lily, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Hell I didn't even know you liked me. And if I did I would…I …," Sirius stuttered. "Well I don't know what I would've done."

"I don't Sirius. I don't like you like that and I never did. I haven't any idea of what talking about. I simply had some free-time last night and decided it would be great fun to make an ass out of myself." Lily replied sarcastically though trying to avoid the truth. "Are we done? I have things to do."

"Please Lily, don't avoid this," Sirius pleaded using the Head Girls name for the fifth time in a span of five minutes. "I can't help the fact I like someone else but I don't want you to be upset with me because of it."

"I already explained it to you. Last night was just a performance, an act that's all. It was nothing more than that." Lily brushed off Sirius' comment then turned away from him once again.

"Don't brush this off. Don't lie to me or yourself." Sirius yelled his voice echoing through the empty corridor. Lily did not even stop this time. She followed the corridor to the staircase pretending to hear nothing.

Sirius let out an aggravated sigh and hung his head in defeat. He knew he could not do this without help. He had told Remus that. She was humiliated, hurt and upset,_ so why the hell did Remus believe she would co-operate. Even though this was his situation, it was Remus' turn to give it a try. Maybe he could come up with a better tactic. _Having an infuriated Head Girl running around the castle certainly was not good.

Sirius followed Lily's recent path, down the corridor to the stairs and eventually to the Great Hall where he joined his friends for dinner, acting as if nothing was different.

* * *

"She wouldn't listen to me. She wanted to avoid it and tried to deny it." Sirius told Remus who was sitting in his bed. They were the only ones in their dorm, Peter was down in the common room doing his homework and James was doing his rounds.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Remus questioned. This was getting ridiculous. _It had nothing to do with him and yet Sirius kept dragging him into it._ "This doesn't involve me. Like Artemis and Peter, I'm just an innocent bystander."

"It's not like any of your advice helped," Sirius retorted he was leaning against one of Remus' bedposts with his arms crossed over his chest.

Both of them sighed and looked each other in the eye. Neither one of them had any idea of what to do next. Sirius did not know how to get himself out of his predicament and Remus did not know how to help him.

The room remained in silence for several minutes; it was Sirius who broke it after he had a bit of a revelation. It was his last chance to sort things out and get through this complicated phase. The only thing standing in his way was Remus' answer.

"Moony maybe one of Lily's friends can talk some sense into her. Obviously it can't be Ivory, so that only leaves Artemis. Do you think you could talk to her for me?" Sirius asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Padfoot," Sirius heard Remus mumble through a sigh. Remus had his head down, eyes closed and left hand covering his face while his right hand held the recent DADA book he was reading before Sirius interrupted his peace and quiet.

He had been sitting in his bed, already in his nightwear, propped up on his pillows with his hangings around his bed pulled shut. He was immersed in his book for the passed three hours that was until fifteen minutes ago.

"Why do you always find it necessary to drag other people into your problems?" Remus asked his brown eyes now opened but his left hand still resting on his head.

"I don't know," Sirius replied honestly then gave Remus a really goof smile. "I guess it makes my life easier."

Remus took one long look at Sirius' face and goofy look his friend made before burst out with laughter. Sirius too started to laugh even though he had not seen the look he had given Remus. _No matter what situation the marauders faced, eventually they would find the humour in it. _

"Alright…alright…" Remus managed to get out in-between his fits of giggles. "…I…I'll…talk to…Art…Artem….Artemis…" The way the two of them were laughing you would have sworn they were under a powerful tickling charm.

When their fits of laughter subsided and they were able to gain control of themselves again, Remus repeated his previous statement. _What the hell? He was already involved in this, what was the harm in consulting another outside source, especially someone who knew more about Lily then him or Sirius._

"Thanks Moony, you're a real friend." Sirius said his expression going from happy to serious. _He would truly be lost without the help of his friends and he knew it._

"Yeah, yeah. Now leave will ya so I can finish my book." Remus responded now with his book between his hands and his eyes scanning the words on the page.

Sirius gave a quick nod and left the room silently to go find Peter.

Remus decided he would talk to Artemis before classes started tomorrow. The sooner he did it the quicker this whole mess would be behind them.

* * *

Lily, Artemis and Ivory were up in the seventh year Gryffindor girl's dormitory putting the finishing touches on their Ancient Runes homework. It was due tomorrow at the beginning of their class and even though they had done days in advance the three girls were doing what they always did and that was checking over it one final time.

The girls were experiencing another one of those odd days. Artemis had noticed odd behaviour from not just one of her best friends but both of them. Lily had been a little more quiet and a bit more snappy while Ivory seemed to be more cheery the usual.

Ivory had been sporting a goofy yet satisfied type of smile since she had woken up. However, Lily had barely cracked one all day. Artemis had also noticed that Lily seemed to be preoccupied with something. Then again Lily was like this every other day. Though this familiar behaviour of Lily's was something of the past or at least it used to be. She had not been nearly as uptight or lost in thought as she used to be before they had become friends with the marauders.

_What could have happened between last night and today to cause Lily to retreat back to her old ways? _Whatever it was, Artemis would find out sooner or later. Artemis was still trying to get the answers out of Lily regarding her choice to suddenly hang out with the marauders, _perhaps this latest incident was tied to it somehow._ It would all be revealed soon, Artemis knew that because she could feel it. For now anyways, she decided to leave the subject alone. She wanted to avoid confrontation with her best friend. Instead she would bug Ivory about her weird behaviour knowing Ivory was dying to tell her friends what had happened to her. A girl was never that cheery for without reason.

"Is there a reason why you're overly cheery today Ivory?" Artemis asked looking at her friend whose smile seemed to light up the room. Lily followed Artemis eyes and noticed for the first time Ivory's excessively cheerful attitude.

"No why would you think that?" Ivory said keeping her head down and focused on her homework trying to hide the fact she was blushing, even though she knew her friends would see right through it.

"Yeah right the red from your cheeks is glowing," Artemis joked. Lily and Ivory broke out in laughter.

"Okay, okay I admit it. There is a reason for my extra cheerful attitude." Ivory answered in defeat. She knew she could not keep a secret from her two best friends. They always could when she was tried to deny something.

"So what's the reason then?" Lily asked now joining in.

"It's nothing big. It's just that someone asked me to go with them to Hogsmeade this weekend." Ivory replied her smile, if possible, grew even more.

"It was a boy right?" Artemis asked only to be a smartass. Ivory made it so easy for her sometimes.

"Yes it was," Ivory answered her cheery tone and smile not fading one bit. She was use to Artemis' smartass remarks just like she was use to seeing Lily's raging temper. It was second-nature to her now.

"Well who is it?" Lily asked wanting to know the name of the boy who had made her friend so happy.

Lily was not prepared for the answer she was about to hear.

"Sirius," Ivory answered excitedly. "It was Sirius Black."

Both Lily and Artemis dropped the quills they had been holding. They both turned and looked Ivory straight in her gray-blue eyes giving her a blank stare.

"Are you two okay," Ivory asked concerned placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Yeah," Artemis replied shaking the thoughts out of her head. "That's great," Artemis smiled then leaned in and pulling the younger girl into a sisterly hug.

Lily did not have the same reaction as Artemis. It took her quite awhile to snap out of her shocked state.

_Did she just imagine it or did Ivory, one of her best friends, say she was going with Sirius Black. The same Sirius Black she had made a fool of herself in front of yesterday. _

"Lily," she heard someone call her name. She sucked in a breath releasing herself from her thoughts then looked around trying to determine the source.

"What?" Lily asked directing her attention back to her friends.

"Are you alright?" Artemis questioned. Lily received looks of worry from them.

"Yeah…I…I just spaced out for a moment there," Lily said giving them a reassuring smile.

"Okay if you're sure," Ivory replied skeptically.

"Yeah! I'm absolutely sure." Lily answered. "So give us all the juicy details. When and how did he ask you?" That was really difficult for Lily to get out. The last thing she wanted to hear about was how Sirius romanced her best friend. She hated not being able to be happy for Ivory but she could not help it.

"Well…" Ivory started. Artemis was eager to listen while Lily wanted so badly to tune it out but at the same time she was interested in hearing about it too. "…he asked when we took a break from working on our project. I'm surprised you didn't even notice how different I was acting for the last hour before we wrapped up for the night, Lily."

"You know how I get when we're doing schoolwork. I pay attention to nothing else," Lily replied quickly. '_How could I have missed that?' _Lily thought to herself now blocking out everything else. She desperately tried to think back to the night before trying to remember if Ivory had been acting oddly. However, she could not recall noticing anything out of the ordinary.

"…and that's how it happened," Ivory finished with a dreamy look in her eyes. _'Why did girls always get that stupid look when it involved boys?'_ Lily asked herself.

"Wow that's so sweet," Artemis commented.

"Yeah, who would've thought Sirius would like you that way," Lily replied sarcastically. That outburst came out a lot harsher than she meant it to. She actually did not mean for it to be said out loud in the first place.

Artemis and Ivory glared at Lily. "What's that suppose to mean?" Ivory asked she had tears forming in her eyes which she desperately tried to hide.

"I….I….I…I didn't mean for it to come out like that?" Lily stuttered. She felt like shit. She had just hurt her best friend, all because she had let her jealously get the better of her.

"I'm sorry...um…I'm going to go now. It's late and we have an early day tomorrow. I'm really sorry Ivory. I truly am. I…I got to go." Lily excused herself quickly and graceful made her way to the door. She was not in the right state to deal with this now. Just hearing Ivory talk about it was infuriating her. _Who knows what she would say next. It could be even worse._

As soon as she was out of sight of her friends she ran (or more like fell) downstairs and made her way through portrait hole into the darken corridor and around the corner. She was not watching where she going and ran into an unsuspecting person.

The person she had bumped into gently grabbed her by the elbow to steady her so she did not crash down on the floor. "Thanks," she replied holding onto the person shoulder and she instantly felt a tingling feeling overcome her. She looked up into familiar hazel eyes of a tall boy with messy black hair.

"Are you okay Lily?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she answered removing her elbow from his grasp. "I was just in a hurry."

"Alright," James replied skeptically.

"So what are you doing?" Lily asked diverting the attention from herself onto a different topic.

"It's my turn to do rounds remember, me being Head Boy and all," James responded.

"Oh yeah, I forgot and I even made the patrol schedule." Lily replied letting out an uncomfortable laugh.

"That's okay—you're allowed to forget something once and awhile." James said smiling. Lily gave him a weak smile she was in no mood to be cheerful. "Do you want to finish my rounds with me? I only have an hour left to go?"

"What the hell, I have nothing better to do. Lead the way." Lily replied signaling with her hand for James to go first.

James gave her another quick smile and began walking down the dimly lit corridor again. His hands were in the pockets of his black school robes and he looked like person of authority. Lily took up the position beside him as they walked side-by-side in silence cautiously looking around for trouble.

"So how do you think we did on the presentation today?" James asked making small talk and hoping to break the awkward silence between them.

"Pretty good I guess. I really don't know." Lily said shrugging her shoulders. "We'll find out next week."

"Yeah," James said.

The awkward silence was vastly approaching again. James did not understand why things seemed so uncomfortable between them. They had not felt this out of place around each other since the beginning of term.

"So is there anything new with you?" Lily asked this time breaking the stillness.

"No. What about you?" James returned the questioned turning his head slightly to get a better look at her.

"Nope just the usual," Lily responded shortly returning his gaze.

James quickly looked away from her and kept his framed eyes ahead of him as they continued down the corridor. He suddenly felt nervous for some reason. _Maybe it had something to do with wanting to ask Lily to go with him to Hogsmeade. It could not be though. He never got nervous asking girls out. So why was it so difficult?_

'_I should just do it and get it over with. Hell I have asked tones of girls out. Lily Evans is no different.' _James mentally debated with himself about asking Lily to go with him this weekend.

'_I should do what Sirius suggested and go with James to Hogsmeade. But then again Sirius is a 'lying dog' who didn't have the nerve to tell me he asked my best friend out.' _Lily was thinking along the same lines as James. She had been trying to make a decision all day. Ivory's new bit of information had made up her mind for her. She was angry with Sirius for leaving out that vital part of the story but she was upset with herself for taken it out on Ivory.

James had suddenly stopped but Lily did not realize this until she was halfway down the hallway. She turned around and looked back at the amused boy then rolled her eyes as she made her way back down the hall towards him.

"Thanks for giving me a warning," Lily said lightly punching him in the shoulder as she approached.

"Ow," James jokingly cried out and grabbed his left shoulder. Lily just laughed and hit him again harder then she intended.

"Okay that one hurt," James cried rubbing his left shoulder hoping the pain would subside.

"Sorry," Lily apologized and she meant it this time unlike the last time she managed to hurt him. "I don't know my own strength."

"It's okay," James responded lifting up the sleeve of his robe and looking at his shoulder. A purplish-blue outline had already started to form on his toned arm muscle. He pulled his sleeve down quickly when he noticed Lily looking at his arm and there was yet another moment of awkwardness between them. _'Just ask her and get it over with,' _a tiny voice whispered in his ear. James decided to take its advice.

"Um…Lily…I," James started but Lily had also said something at the exact same time as he did.

"You go first," they said union and then laughed uneasily.

"Go first I insist," James said gesturing for Lily to begin.

"Are you sure?" Lily replied unsure if she should or not.

"Yes," James said reassuring her.

"Okay…well…I…was…that…is," Lily stuttered while fiddling with the sleeves of her robes and looking at the floor. She felt like an eleven year old. _'This is stupid I am sixteen not eleven. I can talk to a boy,' _Lily thought to herself. She stopped her fiddling and looked right into James' hazel eyes showing no fear or doubt.

"I want know if you'll accompany me to Hogsmeade. I have no one to go with and from what I hear you don't either. It would strictly be on a friendly basis and nothing more," Lily said with an air of confidence leaving James speechless.

James was dumbfounded. The last thing he ever anticipated was Lily Evans asking him out whether it was as friends or more. He did not know what to say or how to answer. In fact he was not sure if could move his mouth. He felt paralyzed.

"Um…" was the most intelligent thing he could say and about the only response he could manage.

"Um…sure…sure…yes, that's a good idea." He said finally able to respond with little trouble.

"Good," Lily said now having doubts about going with him. She did not want to hurt him and she was not even sure anymore if she had asked him for her own benefit or because she was angry at Sirius. Hopefully this would not turn out badly. She really did not want to ruin her new friendship with the marauders even with the drama it brought to her life.

"I'm going to head to the dorm and let you finish up your rounds. Talk to you later," Lily said wanting more than anything to be alone to think. She waved goodbye to James who was trying very hard to act normally and headed into the Head dorm and to her room. She spent the next two hours thinking about how complicated her life was at the moment before she finally managed to fall asleep hoping for a miracle to help her out of this mess.

* * *

© By Mythology, July 15, 2004 

Reposted June 28, 2005


	6. Truth and the Article

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 6: Truth and the Article

"What?" Sirius asked not entirely sure if he had heard James correctly.

"I said," James responded pausing for dramatic effect, "Lily asked me to go with her to Hogsmeade this weekend."

He had heard right. _Lily actually listened to him, amazing._ _Hopefully this did not backfire somehow. _It certainly made James happy. Nothing would be able to wipe the grin off his face for a week at least.

"She said only as friends but that's alright. It's better than nothing." James told them. It was not imperative that he tell Remus and Sirius about the _'friends' _part however, he found it necessary too.

After all, he did not want to screw up the first chance he got to hangout with Lily apart from their friends, schoolwork and Head duties. This was a rare event for both of the Head students and James was determined to do everything in his power to prevent anything from going wrong.

"Well even a non-date with a beautiful girl is better than nothing." Remus said reassuringly but he had his doubts.

'_And things just keep getting more complicated.'_ Remus thought. When Sirius had told him that Lily might ask James out, he did not think she would do it. _Merlin this was quite a shock. 'I really have talk to Artemis before something else happens.'_

"This is going to be great," James said excitedly and danced around his old dorm room chanting, "I can't wait for the weekend. I can't wait for the weekend," over and over.

The seriousness of the situation seemed to die away with the amusing antics of their very content friend.

Sirius and Remus knew there was nothing they could to do to stop whatever came out of this _'love-rectangle.' _The only choice they had was to sit back and wait.

James continued his fancy-foot work around the dorm until it was time for the marauders to head down to the Great Hall for lunch. The seventh years Dueling class had been cancelled because the teacher was out sick.

* * *

"You guys haven't seen Lily around anywhere have you?" Artemis asked as she and Ivory approached the four teenage boys at lunch.

"Isn't she with you two?" Peter asked stating the obvious.

"Do you think we would ask if she was?" Artemis retorted. _Someone surely could not be that dumb._

"No we haven't seen her since Care of Magical Creatures," Sirius answered diverting Artemis' attention away from Peter. Sirius winked at Ivory who immediately turned red with embarrassment but cracked a huge smile.

James and Peter laughed while Artemis and Remus rolled their eyes at the childish exchange between their two friends.

"No she disappeared after the first class and we haven't seen her since either," Ivory supplied the next answer.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Either in the library or in her room," James said after giving his best friend a weird look.

"She must be in her room then because we already checked the library." Artemis deduced.

"I'll go get her then," James offered quickly standing up from his spot at the Gryffindor table in between Remus and Sirius.

Artemis who was standing behind James gently put her hand on the raven haired boys shoulder and pushed him down, "I'll get her." She insisted, leaving the group of friends. Neither James, nor the others had a chance to object because Artemis was already halfway down the aisle before they realized. _She needed to talk to Lily. Something was going on and it was time for the Head Girl to confess._

'_Now is the perfect time to talk to Artemis. Maybe I could even talk to Lily myself.' _Remus thought and he hurriedly jumped up from his seat beside James who had sat back down, getting odd looks from the people around him which he ignored and ran to the exit.

"Artemis wait up," he called to her from the bottom of the main staircase.

The black haired girl stopped when she heard someone call her name and turned around to find Remus running up the stairs. "What?" She asked wondering why he was following her. _Not that she minded. She just did not expect it._

"I…I…have to talk to you…" Remus panted. The run up the stairs to catch up with the fast paced girl was not the brightest idea he ever had. He knew better than to do strenuous activity the day of a full moon. It wore him out even more. Then again this was more important than his health.

"Okay we'll talk on the way up to see Lily," Artemis agreed leading the way after Remus' breathing returned to normal.

* * *

"So what you're saying…" Artemis said making sure she understood, "…is Lily fancies Sirius or at least she did up until yesterday."

"Yep," was Remus' simple reply.

Artemis blinked a few times her dark brown eyes were searching the walls of the corridor out of habit. It was almost like she was secretly hoping the stone walls would give her the answers she was looking for.

"How…when…why…" she tried but was having trouble phrasing her question. She stopped suddenly and so did Remus' who had been watching her carefully. She turned and faced the lighter haired boy finally able to speak properly again. "How did this come-about?"

Remus unfortunately could not give the confused girl an answer. He did not know himself. Instead of giving a worded response, the werewolf shrugged his broad shoulders.

"You found this out from Sirius," Artemis stated rather than questioned. Remus simply nodded. "Why didn't Lily tell me any of this?"

"I don't know," Remus said. "It really doesn't matter now does it? You know now."

"Yes, I do but I heard it from the best friend of my best friend's crush and not from her. It would have been better to hear it from Lily rather than someone else," Artemis explained to the younger boy.

"I see."

"I'm glad." She said sardonically. The information Remus had provided to Artemis about Lily was disappointing. Not the information itself but how it was delivered to her. _Lily should have been the one to tell her and not Remus._ Lily was after all her best friend. Artemis up till now figured Lily would not keep anything from her particularly when it came to a crush.

"There's not much you can do about it," Remus said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish Lily would've told me." Artemis admitted with a sad smile.

"Come on you can still yell at her," Remus said squeezing her shoulder supportively then walked a few paces ahead. She dazedly watched him walk away before picking up her own pace and following.

They stopped outside the Head dormitory entrance and Remus knocked loudly on the ancient wooden door. After knocking twice and getting no answer, he grasped the old brass hoop handle and with little force pushed the door open. It squeaked loudly.

"Lily are you here?" Artemis called out almost immediately after she had entered behind Remus. He kindly held the door opened for the girl then shut it. She muttered thanks and headed straight for Lily's room. She gave a quick knock and entered before Lily had a chance to respond.

Lily did not even notice anyone come in. She was sitting at her desk engrossed in her latest homework assignment which was another essay. The seventh years were assigned to write an essay for their Care of Magical Creatures for Professor Kettleburn on Sea Serpents. Lily chose to do hers on the Lock Ness Monster.

Lock Ness Monster

**Like many other creatures in the magical world The Lock Ness Monster is considered to be a myth or legend to muggles. Nessie as it is commonly referred to… **Lily wrote the beginning of her essay.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat which made her jump about five inches off her desk chair. Lily turned around and looked to see who had arrived in her room unannounced.

"Did I scare you?" Artemis asked giving Lily a huge smile emphasizing her happiness at surprising her friend. She walked over to Lily's bed, something she did so often, and sat down on the neatly maid covers. Remus remained at the threshold of the doorway. He was not sure if he should enter or not. So instead he decided to stay where he was even though both Lily and Artemis gestured for him to come in.

"No, not all. I just felt like jumping." Lily answered sarcastically. "What's up anyway? What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Nothing, other than having a bone to pick with you," Artemis responded her light humour turning serious.

"What did I do now?" Lily asked sincerely with a puzzled expression etched over her naturally pale complexion. _Great,_ _just what she needed to add to her life Artemis' anger._

Artemis looked over at Remus who was leaning on the door frame. He stood there expressionless. She then turned back at Lily who was patiently waiting for a reply.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a crush on Sirius? Why did you keep it from me?" Artemis questioned trying to hide how much it bothered her although she was not completely successful in her attempts. Lily could tell Artemis was upset.

"I…I…you wouldn't have understood," Lily said knowing straight away it was a weak response. _There was no way in hell Artemis would ever fall for that excuse. Remus would not believe it either._

"Lily Eilantha Evans that is a poor excuse, I don't think I have heard anything more ridiculous. _'You wouldn't understand,'_" Artemis mimicked her best friend's words.

Lily glared at Artemis furiously. "OKAY, I admit not the best excuse someone could come up with. What do you want from me Artemis?" Lily yelled at her standing up from her seat. _To think Lily thought she would have one day of peace if she avoid people. Apparently her plan was not working out to well. _

"The truth would be nice instead of your constant attempts to run around it," Artemis stated. _What was so hard about it? She simply wanted to know why Lily did not tell her about liking Sirius. _

"Fine, I didn't tell you because it's partially the reason I suddenly began hanging around the marauders," Lily revealed the truth to both Artemis and Remus who in return said nothing. They just stared wide eyed at the redheaded girl. .

"What do you mean by partially?" Remus asked confused. Remus had voiced the question Artemis was about to ask yet it never made it passed the tip of her tongue.

"Well if you must know," Lily begun sitting back down in her desk chair, she crossed her legs underneath the other and rested her hands in her lap. "It was Sirius who suggested I get to know James and the rest of the marauders during our detention. We had a long conversation and he helped me realize I was being unfair to everyone. I also figured hanging out with the marauders would allow me more time to get to know Sirius better. "

Lily was now twisting a strand of her long dark thick red hair around her finger. This was out of habit rather than nervousness. She often did it when she was thinking or bored. Sometimes her friends found it hard to determine which one she was.

"Again I ask, why couldn't you have told me this to begin with?" Artemis repeated.

"Because I thought you'd find it to be silly," Lily confessed she had stopped twisting her hair with her finger. She looked at Artemis waiting for her to answer.

"I think I'm going to go and let you two talk this out," Remus said and waved goodbye to the girls who did at first protest but waved back. After Remus left the head dormitory the girls continued their conversation.

Artemis finally got to hear everything Lily had been withholding from her since the middle of September. Lily told Artemis every little detail. She started with the detention she shared with Sirius and concluded with asking James out.

"Merlin that sure is a complicated mess you got yourself into," Artemis said. Even after the explanation she still did not understand why Lily kept it all to herself. _Things might have gone easier for the stubborn redhead if she would have just asked for help or even guidance. _"Lily you do know I would've been willing to lend some assistances if you would've just asked. You know I wouldn't have thought of you differently." 

"I know…I know…I…I just didn't think there was anything you could do to help me. That old saying _'you got yourself into this, you have find your way out,' _kept playing over in my mind. Did you ever notice situations seem more difficult until you get a different perspective."

"That's life for you," Artemis agreed.

"Ivory isn't mad at me is she? I didn't mean what I said I…I was upset with Sirius and I took it out on her." Lily explained.

"No she's not mad at you, she's worried. It's kind of hard to be mad at someone who is sincerely apologizing to you as they run out of the common room almost crying. But you might want to tell her why you reacted like that."

"I can't. Not yet anyway. I think the best thing to do is to apologize again then let it all play out naturally. I don't want to cause anymore trouble." Lily said deciding not to listen to Artemis' advice.

"Do whatever you feel is right. In the end no one can decide for you. Just remember what you chose I will support you." Artemis said comfortingly.

"I know."

"Good," Artemis replied then looked at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand closest to the window. The clock read 1:10 pm only ten minutes before the girls Ancient Runes class and the marauders Muggle Studies class. "We got to get going."

Lily's only response was a nod. Both girls stood up from their seats and headed out of Lily's bedroom through the Head common room and down to the sixth floor. They entered the Ancient Runes classroom said '_good afternoon'_ to their teacher Professor Dyllis. They took their usual seats in the middle of the room and waited for Ivory and the rest of the class to show up.

* * *

Thursday and Friday of the last week in October went by unusually fast. Friday night after everyone excluding the Professors, Prefects and Heads finished with dinner and went to their respectable common rooms and dormitories, decorating of the Great Hall began. Halloween was only hours away and that meant the arrival of the first Hogsmeade trip of the school year as well as the first annual First and Second year activity day.

The rumours which had surfaced at the beginning of October about a Halloween Ball had been put to rest because of a school news letter issued by the Headmaster upon the Head's request. Some of the students were disappointed to read it but after a few days the idea was forgotten and new rumours and gossip were floating around the school. Lily was pleased to hear the new gossip did not include her.

"So are you excited about going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Lily heard a deep male voice ask her. She turned her head and looked over her right shoulder. The ponytail she had her hair in swished over to the opposite shoulder as she saw James Potter standing behind her floating an already carved Jack-o-lantern into the air.

"About as excited as any other year," Lily responded levitating the last of the Jack-o-lanterns using _Wingardium Leviosa _then placed a timed invisibility charm on it. Instead of having just the Professors decorate while the students were gone Lily had insisted she, James and the Prefects lend a hand. She also suggested decorating the night before and use timed invisibility charms to hide it from the other students until the actual feast.

"Are we free to go?" Raphael McKeon, a sixth year Hufflepuff asked the Head students.

"Um…is everything on the list done?" Lily replied her emerald green eyes scanned the Great Hall.

"Yes," the boy replied simply.

"Well then I guess you can go," Lily responded as James idly stood by and said nothing. "But remember after the feast tomorrow you'll have to help clean up."

Raphael and the other Prefects nodded before rushing to the exit of the Great Hall and to their common rooms to join the rest of their peers.

"So are we done here?" James repeated the question Raphael had asked a few moments ago.

"Yeah…" Lily replied looking around once more. "…there doesn't seem to be anything left to do."

"Good," James said yawning. "I'm heading off to bed then."

"Okay well I'm going to stay here and finish up." Lily said.

"But I thought you said we were done?" James asked confused.

"We are," Lily replied after casting a spell on one of the brooms she had gotten out earlier from a broom closet. The broom was dancing around the Great Hall sweeping up the leftover contents from the decorating. "I'm going to finish cleaning up."

"Then I'll stay and help you," James offered. He too cast a similar spell on the mop which was lying near by. The mop was following the broom around the Great Hall washing up the stone floor.

"No its okay, it won't take long." Lily responded. It had nothing to do with her not wanting James' help. She really did not want to be alone with him. She was feeling really guilty for asking him out under false pretences even though they had both agreed their venture would be strictly on a friendship basis.

Lily was still angry with Sirius. She had barely said more than two words to him since Tuesday. However the blame could go both ways. Sirius did not make much of an effort to rectify the situation either. Well at least Ivory had accepted her apology and Lily did not feel so alone anymore. She was grateful she could share this burden with someone else.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Lily said hinting for James to leave. He reluctantly took the hint and left after protesting a few more times. He headed up to his room and got ready for bed.

Lily remained down in the Great Hall for an extra hour tidying things up and making sure nothing was out of place. It was 11:17pm when she made her way up the eight flights of stairs to the Head dorm. She went straight to her room where she changed into her pajamas took the ponytail out of her hair and settled down underneath the covers with her Charms text book. Flitwick was planning to give the seventh years a test next week _what better time to study for it then on a Friday night. _

"_When performing the...," _is the last thing Lily read before falling into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

James, who was in the room across the hall from Lily had yet to fall asleep, he could not shake the feeling that Lily was avoiding him. She along with his three best friends seemed to be hiding something from him. But he had no proof of it. It was only a feeling and James was not one to trust his instincts very often. However, Lily, Sirius and Remus had been acting more bizarre than usual.

James could not fall asleep as easily as the girl in the room across the hall. He had too much to think about and the best way for him empty the thoughts was to write them down. He leaned over and pulled open the top drawer of the nightstand on the left side of his bed. He took out an old tattered brown leather book his favourite quill and an inkpot.

_October 30_

_I don't know what it is but I have the distinct feeling that certain people are hiding things from me. They seem to be dancing around a certain topic trying their best to avoid it. This secret only seems to involve Sirius, Lily and Remus however I think Peter knows about it. He is either under strict instructions not to say anything or he doesn't care. _

_I'm not entirely sure if Artemis and Ivory know anything about it. My guess is Artemis might know but Ivory might be in the dark like I am. I don't even think any of them realize I know something's up. I could just be paranoid. _

_I think the main issue has something to do with Sirius and Lily. They both have been avoiding each other. I believe Remus' only connection to this situation is because Sirius had dragged him into it somehow. Remus being the loyal friend would go to any lengths to help Padfoot, Wormtail or me, even if it meant giving up his own life. I wish one of them would give me a hint. _

_James Potter_

James finished writing the latest entry in his journal then shut the book and placed it back in the top drawer of his nightstand. It felt good to get all those thoughts out of his head. Now, hopefully, he could get to sleep without his mind being cluttered.

This was one of the reasons he loved writing in a journal even though Sirius found it to be waste of time. _"The only thing a journal is good for—is blackmail," _Sirius would always say when he caught James writing in his.

During first year James preferred to write in it when no one was around. By fifth year and after many years of hearing Sirius complain, James came to the point where he did not care if his friends knew he wrote in a journal.

James grabbed his wand from the top of his nightstand and cast a dimming spell on the candles in his room. He placed his wand back on his nightstand then rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

It was 6:00am when Lily's alarm clock went off the morning of the Hogsmeade visit. It was too early for her to go down for breakfast not even the house-elves would be there. James and most of the other students would not be getting up for another hour or two. Reading was how she was going to pass the time while waiting for the rest of the school to get up.

She got out of bed changed into a pair of black casual pants and a black and white striped sweater put her long red hair into a perfect braid. She looked herself over in her full length mirror making sure her appearance was decent then went to her bed and grabbed the book she was reading last night. With her latest reading material in hand, Lily opened her bedroom door and went out into the Head common room. She stretched out on one of the couches and picked up where she left off.

'_Viviane smiled to herself, thinking. **Do you really think you can keep it secret from me, Uther, if I wish to know?** But she was too diplomatic to say aloud._

"_I have another boon to ask of you, brother-in-law," she said. "Give me Morgaine to foster in Avalon."_

_Uther stared a moment, then shook his head. "Impossible."_

"_What is impossible to a High King, Pendragon?"_

"_There are only two fates for Morgaine," said Uther. "She must marry a man completely sworn to me, one I trust. Or if I can find no such strong ally to give her, she's for the nunnery and the veil. She'll raise up no Cornwall party in this kingdom."' (From the book The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, 127). _

Lily had woken up with a new perspective. She had come to the conclusion that life was to short to worry about uncontrollable situations. She was not going to spend a perfectly good day wallowing in self pity because the boy she liked did not feel the same way. Instead Lily was going to make the best of it and have fun. _James may not be Sirius but he is the next best thing._

Lily put her book down on one of the end tables around 8:00am, _'should I go and wake James up?' _Lily asked herself while stretching her limbs. _'It could be fun,'_ she smiled to herself. She stood up from the couch and proceeded to James' bedroom door. She had let him sleep for two extra hours and that was more than enough time. The students would be getting up and breakfast would be served.

She knocked loudly on his door receiving no answer. She waited for a few minutes before knocking again, this time louder. Again she got no answer. Lily was really not in a patient mood at 8:00 in the morning.

After a third failing knock on the teenage boy's door, Lily opened it and entered not caring how James would respond. She walked over to the side of his bed were he was snuggled closest to. She gently shook the sleeping boy to wake him but nothing happened. The most response she got from him was a snort. She let out a frustrated sigh resisting the urge to hit the raven-haired boy.

"James," she whispered trying a different approach which was another failed attempt. He brushed away the sound from his ear and rolled over to face the opposite side.

'_Merlin,' _Lily thought as she stood beside James' bed staring at his back. _'A bloody parade could come tromping through here and he wouldn't even stir. How the hell am I going to wake him?'_

Within minutes, Lily's brilliant mind came up with an plan. Lily took her wand out from her pants pocket pointed it at her throat and said _"Sonorus." _

"**JAMES POTTER, TIME TO GET UP,**" her voice echoed throughout the Head boy's room and head dormitory. Good thing they were the only ones with residence down this corridor because Lily's voice echoed down the halls outside of the dorm as well as inside it. Her booming voice sure startled the hell out of James. He merely did not wake up like she wanted, he also fell out of bed.

Seeing the sight of James falling out of bed made Lily's day. She could not contain her laughter. James without delay got to his feet looked around the room to see what had awoken him. His hazel eyes fell on the giggling redhead inching her way to the door.

"Is that how you wake people up, seek into their rooms then almost give them a panic attack?" James grumbled sitting down on his bed his eyes not leaving Lily's even for a second.

"It is when all my other attempts fail." Lily answered smartly smiling innocently. She had taking the spell off.

James rolled his eyes. "Well since I'm up, even if it is against my will, I should go get ready for the day," James said getting up from his bed properly this time.

"I suppose you should. After all you did agree to go with me to Hogsmeade. I'll let you get ready. See ya down at breakfast," said Lily as she left his room, the Head dorm and went down to the Great Hall.

* * *

Lily was joined by her friends and the marauders within minutes of her arrival at the Great Hall. Artemis and Ivory had been the first to turn up at the Gryffindor table. Not long after Sirius, Remus and Peter were next to be seated. James was the last one to show up.

"What are the exact plans for today?" Ivory asked putting bacon on her onto her plate then pouring milk into her goblet.

"Well I was hoping we could hangout by ourselves. You know walking around, enjoying the sights." Sirius replied giving Ivory his cute sulky look. This was one of the looks which drove girls wild.

Ivory blushed, her cheeks were almost the colour of Lily's hair. The others who were watching this mushy exchange rolled their eyes and broke out in giggles and snickers.

"I guess, that leaves only the five us," James declared talking specifically to Remus, Lily, Artemis and Peter.

"Sorry, Prongs but I'm hangout with Rachael Cunnings from Hufflepuff." Peter apologized staring down at the table as if he was ashamed.

"It's okay Wormtail," James sighed patting his shorter friend on that back. "What about you two?"

"Hate to disappoint you again Prongs but Artemis and I made plans to," Remus told him.

"I stand corrected. It's only me and you then Lily," James said drinking from his goblet full of orange juice.

"Wonderful," Lily replied sarcastically.

"Hey remember you asked me, not the other way around," James retorted happily.

"I know."

The flutter of wings was heard throughout the Great Hall causing the seven Gryffindors to look up at the incoming mail. Snow White—Lily's Snowy Owl flew down to her dropping off the Daily Prophet. She ate some food left on Lily's plate then flew back through one of the windows and up to the Owlery to sleep.

Lily picked up the paper her owl left behind and was astonished when she read the Headline on the front page, _Minister's Murderer Named. _Her gasp of surprise caught the attention of those sitting around her.

"What's the matter?" Ivory asked concernedly.

"Nothing," Lily answered shortly still focusing on the newspaper article in front of her.

"It's more than nothing," James stated watching Lily from across the table. He could see her eyes scanning it. "What's the article you're reading?"

Lily tore her eyes away from the newspaper long enough to see the looks on her friends faces. "They named the Minster's Murderer."

"Wha…what?" Artemis asked before the other five.

Lily looked at the article again and started reading it them.

_**Minister's Murderer Named**_

**_It has been four years to the day since the attack on the Ministry in London. The four year long investigation headed by Sinclair Yuleys and his team can finally name a suspect._**

**_On that horrible day, four years ago several Ministry employees were injured when it was attack by unknown killers. Though there were many injured only a few were killed. Those who were murdered were very close to the Minister for Magic who was in office at the time._**

**_Those among the murdered included the Minster for Magic himself and his family. Eamon Odette was the first Muggle-Born wizard to be elected into office. He had only celebrated being Minster for a year when he was assassinated. Within days of the beloved Minster's murder unknown assailants set out and killed his wife Coral Weiss—Odette, 38 and two sons Robert 18, and Kyle 6. _**

**_The wizarding world mourned the loss of one of the most loved Ministers and his family. It is believed that his murderer goes by the name Lord Voldermort. The Auror who have been investigating the murder of the Minster claim to have evidence linking this wizard to many other murders as well. They are still unaware of the motive why this dark wizard and his followers (known as Death Eaters), have killed and still are killing innocent Muggle-Borns and Muggles, but the Auror have been put on high alert. The Ministry is offering a 20,000 gallon reward to anyone with information on the whereabouts of Lord Voldermort or his followers._**

_**If you have any information, contact a Ministry official immediately.**_

Lily finished reading. None of them said anything. The article had left them all speechless and stunned. It had been along time since that tragic day had been mentioned but many still remembered it as if it happened yesterday.

"What does this mean then?" Ivory asked breaking the silence around the group of friends.

"I don't know." James answered for all of them.

It was not just the seven Gryffindor's who were thunderstruck by the announcement. The entire Great Hall had gone quiet which was a rarity. Although the murders had taken place four years ago, it still affected the wizarding world greatly.

"Everyone may I have your attention?" Dumbledore's gentle voice was heard throughout the hall as he stood up in front of the whole school. His bright blue eyes twinkled behind his half moon spectacles. "I understand most of you have read the article in the Daily Prophet today. It is good to hear they have named a suspect after all these years. With this new discovery hopefully the Auror's will finally be able to catch the person or persons responsible. I encourage all of you to come forward with any information that could be helpful in solving this investigation. On a happier note I wish you all to have a day filled with fun."

Dumbledore finished up his speech then sat back down in his seat at the staff table. The familiar noisy atmosphere of the Great Hall returned while the students continued conversing with one another.

However, the marauders, Lily, Artemis and Ivory remained silent waiting for breakfast to end and their trip to Hogsmeade village to begin. The shock from the article had not left them as easily as it had for the rest of the school.

Lily had been among a selected few in Hogwarts who had been affected significantly more by the Minister for Magic's passing then others because she was a Muggle-Born witch. Eamon Odette had been the first Minister who was killed when the British wizarding world was at peace. His death was a message for all Muggle-Borns to be careful even though officials did not specifically confirm it.

As breakfast came to an end the third years and above got up from the four tables and made their way in a not-so-orderly-fashion to the carriages waiting outside.

"We'll see you in Hogsmeade," James and Lily said to their retreating friends. As the Head students they stayed behind an extra hour to help out with the last minute preparations for the feast and demonstrate what activities they had planned for the first and second years.

When everything was settled and upon Dumbledore's insistence Lily and James made their way to a waiting carriage outside. The easy part of the day had passed. Now all that lingered was the rest of it. _The awkwardness between the two Head students should not last long, right? Well Lily and James were on the verge of finding out._

The two Gryffindors climbed into the horseless carriage, speaking not one word to each other the whole trip down to the wizarding village beyond the Hogwarts grounds.

* * *

© By Mythology, August 8, 2004. 

Reposted, June 28, 2005


	7. Hogsmeade, Halloween and Suspicion

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 7: Hogsmeade, Halloween and Suspicion

The ride to the wizarding village lasted less then five minutes, however, to the occupants inside the carriage, it seemed longer.

'_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?' _Lily thought to herself as her mind filled with doubt. This non-date with James could go either way, good or bad.

There was nothing but silent air between the two Head students. Neither one spoke, they barely moved. The deep intake of breath was the only occasional sound heard within the confined space of the moving carriage.

'_Is this how it is going to be, silent and uncomfortable?" _James thought as he kept his hazel eyes trained on anything but the red-haired girl sitting across from him. He too was having doubts about this arrangement.

Neither Lily nor James knew what to expect. Both of them felt nervous and scared even though they would not admit it openly. Lily was fearful she would do or say something that would hurt James unintentionally. She was not sure if James knew she had asked Sirius to accompany her on this trip first. Just for precautionary measures she decided not to mention it. _The last thing she needed was to be the cause of a fight between James and Sirius._

Lily was not alone with her fears, James to felt uneasy about the whole situation. He was afraid he would somehow screw up their new friendship. He was more cautious around Lily. He made sure he watched what he said and how he presented himself. _Sometimes all it takes is a stupid meaningless comment or action that can cause a mess of problems._

James for some reason felt more self-conscious and insecure about himself whenever Lily was around. He might look confident on the outside but on the inside was a different story. Her very presence had an affect on him and he was not the only one who noticed it. Both Lily's and James' friends saw the instant change in the Head Boy's behaviour when Lily simply walked by. It was amusing to watch at times.

However, as much of an influence Lily was having on James, he had the same affect on her. Since he and Lily had become friends, James unknowingly had grown up tremendously. He now thought about things rather than jumping into them without hesitation.

Lily had made some noticeable changes within a short time as well. She was less uptight and more relaxed. She did not always have her nose in a book and even though her homework was always finished a few days in advance, she did not complete it the night it was assigned. Lily seemed to have better control over her temper. A good month had gone by since the last time she and James had had an actual argument where she let him have it.

With an unexpected jolt Lily felt the horseless stagecoach come to a halt outside of Hogwarts' iron entrance gates which shook her from her thoughts. She took in the sight of the dark gray sky as she stepped out onto a stone pathway of a village street. It was perfect weather for Halloween. There were storm clouds in the sky, a chill in the air and rain threatened to fall.

"So what do you want to do?" James asked the Head Girl drawing her attention towards him.

"It really doesn't matter to me. You pick something." Lily said allowing James to make the decision.

"Alright then, since you insist, I recommend we go and have a look around Honeydukes. It really isn't Halloween without a trip to the local sweet shop right?" James suggested grinning.

"I suppose," Lily agreed, wondering if it was a good idea. The grin on James' face got her thinking, _'are sweets and James a good combination?'_ After all, too much sugar had the ability to make certain people hyper and James did not need anymore help with that!

Before Lily could objected, James had grabbed her gently by the wrist and pulled her with him through the busy streets of Hogsmeade and down to the famous Honeydukes. Lily, amazingly, did not struggle.

They entered the overly crowded store filled with chocolate and sweets of every kind. The shop was stocked full with every wizarding sweet imaginable from _every-flavoured beans to peppermint creams shaped like toads_. It was enough to make anyone's mouth water.

"Is there anything particular you're looking for?" Lily asked casually as she followed behind James throughout the store, looking at the shelves and bins.

"No just looking to replenish my stock. Sirius found my secret stash last week and nearly ate the entire thing." James said stopping in front of _'Unusual Tastes' _in the farthest corner of the shop. He picked up a _blood-flavoured lollipop _off of the tray.

"Maybe you should look over in the _'Special Effects' _and get some _splintery toothflossing stringmints_, rather than in the _'Unusual Tastes.'_" Lily said looking at James' choice with disgust.

She preferred chocolate or even _honey-coloured toffees_ and maybe once and a while some _every-flavoured beans_ but she was not very fond of other types of wizarding candy. It was certainly something she could live without.

"I will but I needed some of these too. I like variety." James answered grabbing some more lollipops then moved over to the _cockroach clusters_. Lily's only response was a deep sigh and a roll of her green emerald eyes.

Lily and James spent a few more minutes touring through the shop getting the sweets they wanted, before heading to the counter at the front and purchasing their goods. James bought three bags full of different types of candy while Lily had bought only half a bag.

They grabbed what they paid for and made their way towards the exit bumping into Remus and Artemis.

"Hey guys," the black-haired girl greeted as the four of them stepped outside into the street and found a less populated area to talk.

"What are you two doing?" Lily asked smiling. She found it really cute Remus and Artemis fancied each other even if they had not owned up to it yet. _At least things seemed to be going right for them._

"We're heading to Honeydukes but I see you two have already been there," Artemis answered, pointing to Lily's bag.

"Yeah, I think James here…" Lily pointed to James who was standing beside her, "…just about bought out the store."

"What can I say; I'm a sucker for sweets." James shrugged.

"Perhaps it's enough to put you into a sugar coma," Lily joked before turning back to their friends." Do you two want to come with us?" We could wait for you."

"Um…we…really" Remus started to say trying to find a gentle way to decline. He looked over at Artemis hoping she would take over, however, she made no attempt to jump in. "…how about we meet up with you later in the Three Broomsticks with the others around four. Artemis and I made plans to hangout together for a while longer."

"Okay," Lily said cracking a smile. "I guess we'll see you at four then. Hope you two have fun."

Remus and James stared at Lily wide eyed as if she was from a different planet. It looked like Lily, talked like Lily but did not act like Lily. The Lily they were familiar with would have put up at least a little fight to try and get her friends to change their mind. It was what she usually did after making a suggestion.

"Guys, you can pick your mouths up off the ground and stop being so dramatic." Artemis giggled, "Come on Remus we still have plans to meet. See ya later."

"Yeah bye," Remus repeated doing as Artemis said, waved goodbye and followed the departing girl into Honeydukes.

"Don't they make a cute couple?" Lily asked James after their friends were out of ear-shot.

"Who said they were going out?" James asked confused. _Did he miss something? When did Artemis and Remus start dating and why was he not told?_

"Nobody, I was only making an observation," Lily said clearing up James' questions and confusion. "I think they would be sweet together."

"I guess. I'm not really one to play match maker for other people. I believe if people are supposed to be together they will find their way." James declared receiving a doubtful look from Lily. "What you don't believe me?"

"No," Lily answered truthfully. "What about all those years of bugging me to go out with you? Your theory seems to be hypocritical."

"Not necessarily. It's still early in the school year. A lot can happen between now and graduation." James answered smartly giving Lily his arrogant boyish smile then took off before she had time to disagree.

"You're a little full of yourself Potter," Lily yelled at him from where she stood causing everyone around her to stop and stare. Her face turned red the moment she realized she had inadvertently drew the attention of the passer-byers around her. She gave an uncomfortable smile and snuck away, setting out in-search of the raven-haired boy.

'_What the bloody hell did he mean by that?" _Lily thought to herself. Deep down Lily knew exactly what he meant, however, subconsciously she was not ready to acknowledge it.

* * *

Lily finally found James half-an-hour later in where else but the village Joke Shop.

"How'd I know you'd be in here?" Lily questioned announcing her presence. She had spotted the prankster in the aisle which held the latest inventions of the pranking world.

"Lucky guess," James said without looking away from the merchandise in his hand. He was holding a bottle called _Blue Bubble Hair Gel. Slip this into an unlucky person's shampoo bottle and watch the fun unfold, _Lily read the label over his shoulder.

"Remind me to guard my shampoo at all times." Lily replied guessing what kind of prank James could play with it.

"Who said this would end up in your hair? I do have some class you know." James said putting the bottle back on the shelf he had got it from and continued down the aisle stopping to look at other things.

"Whatever you say Prankster Prince, so are you done in here? There are other places I did plan on checking out." Lily announced. She really did not want to hang around a joke shop all day even if it was James' favourite place.

"Yeah, I'll just pay for these…" James said pointing to his arms filled with items for future jokes and pranks. "…and then we can go anywhere you want."

"Alright I'll wait for you outside and we'll go from there." Lily approved and headed for the exit of the store. She sat outside on a nearby stone bench, watching other Hogwarts students pass by while waited for the leader of the marauders to come out.

James emerged from Zonko's Joke Shop fifteen minutes later with more bags full of what Lily thought to be useless junk. _But why she should care? After all it was not her money being wasted._

"So where did you want to go next?" James asked instinctively while placing his shrunken packages into a pocket of his heavy black cloak.

"I want to go have a look at the owls in the post office." Lily said standing up from the bench. Visiting the Post Office was not James' idea of fun but _what the hell?_ He had nothing better to do. Besides Lily did what he wanted to do so he owed her.

"Okay," he said motioning for the Head Girl to go first which Lily did.

They spent half-an-hour in the post office looking at all of the different species of owls. Lily had been to the post office many times since third year but it still amazed her. The Hogwarts Owlery did have a lot of owls but it was nothing compared to the Hogsmeade post office.

The Head students toured around Hogsmeade a little longer, stopping at a robe shop, book store where Lily purchased new reading material.

They eventually, ended up at the Shrieking Shack. Lily, at first argued with James about going up to the creepy dwelling but he ultimately talked her into it. It was the perfect place to spend part of their Halloween.

_After all what could be more freaky then to be near the most haunted place in the country on the scariest day of the year._ _Besides it was more secluded and away from the busy streets of the village._ Lily only agreed to go with the Head Boy after he assured her nothing would happen.

They sat on the ground, in a patch of weeded grass, a little ways from the actual Shrieking Shack, (that was as far as James could get Lily to go), and talked. For both of them this felt normal, there was no discomfort or anything. It was just two friends sitting together talking and laughing. If someone did not know their past very well they would have sworn these two had been friends for more than a couple of weeks.

* * *

"Read any good books lately," James asked casually keeping the conversation going between Lily and him. It was an easy topic to bring up with her. She was always seen with a book in her hand whether it was for school or leisure.

"All the books I read are good." Lily answered.

"Aren't they mostly muggle books?" James asked wondering if there was any difference between wizarding and muggle authors or writing styles.

"Yeah," Lily answered again while tucking a stray strand of her red hair behind her ear. The wind had picked up a bit and her once perfect hairstyle was now a mess.

"Is there any difference between wizarding books and muggle ones?" James questioned taking the books out of Lily's bag and reading the covers. The books were of course written by wizards. Muggle books were hard to come by in a wizarding village.

"Well I'm not really sure. It depends on the subject of the book." Lily responded grabbing her books from James and putting them back in her bag. "Why don't see for yourself? You can borrow some of my books if you want."

"No thanks," James answered declining the Head Girls offer, "readings not really my thing."

"Well the offer is there if you ever want to test out your theory." Lily said smiling.

"So got any new ideas to improve the school rolling around in your head?" James asked starting a new topic. He lay down in the grass placing his arms behind his head and watching the dark storm clouds drift across the sky.

"I'm trying to talk Dumbledore into starting a school newspaper." Lily announced focusing her emerald eyes on James face.

"Why?" James inquired giving Lily a weird look. Personally James did not think introducing a newspaper to Hogwarts was a good idea. _What did they need another newspaper for? The Daily Prophet seemed to be doing a fine job._

"A newspaper would be a good addition to the school especially to those students who want to be journalists." She explained.

"I don't think many students would be interested in reading a school newspaper. Most barely read the Headlines of the Prophet" James stated in an all-knowing tone.

"That may be your opinion, but it's not the only one." Lily snapped at the messy haired boy who just stared at her in return. He was back in a sitting position, legs tucked under each other. She kept her glare focused on him but he stared back, not sure what this would accomplish. _It was not his fault he used logic once and awhile._

"Merlin," Lily let out a frustrated sigh stood up from her place on the grass running her fingers through her long red locks then waving them above her head. "Why do we have a tendency to contradict one another?"

"It's out of habit I suppose," James guessed his hazel eyes following every move the beautiful redheaded girl made. She sat back down beside him.

"Is that what you want to do?" James asked the Head Girl catching her by surprise. There had to be a reason she felt so strongly about the newspaper idea, _perhaps she wanted to pursue a career in journalism._

"What?" Lily asked confused, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Journalism, is that what you want to do?" James asked again.

"Oh…um…I'm not sure what I want to do. It has crossed my mind a few times. But I don't think it's for me." Lily explained. It was the half truth. Lily had more than thought about pursuing a career in journalism whether it was in the muggle or wizarding world did not matter. The only problem she faced was experience.

She had written several articles in her spare-time when her homework was done and she decided to put off reading a book. It was something about her she kept secret from even Artemis and Ivory. Dumbledore was the only one who knew.

"Why?" James asked curiously paying her every ounce of his attention. He was interested to know what she planned to do after school ended. His life was practically mapped out for him. He really only had two major options, playing quidditch professionally or the "family business" being an auror. Neither of these choices were bad, in fact he would love to do both if he could but he wanted to have other options as well. Life seemed more real that way.

"I'm not really comfortable talking about my future with you just yet." Lily said giving him an unsatisfying answer.

He gave her a weak smile but said "okay."

"What about you though, what do you want to do after Hogwarts?" Lily asked interested to hear his answer.

"Well my future probably isn't as mysterious as yours but…," he responded pausing for a moment on purpose. "…I am probably going to become an auror like my father and granddad. About seven generations of Potter men and three of Potter women have been aurors."

He said the last part proudly but bitterly at the same time and Lily heard more of the bitterness in his voice.

"Is that such a bad thing?" Lily asked instinctively. Aurors were well respected in the wizarding world. They were like muggle police but more special and paid better. Most auror families were load with money.

"No," James sighed. "It's just so common in my family. It would be nice to break off and do something else."

"Well what is it that you want to do?" Lily questioned trying to understand him.

"That's the problem. I don't know. There is so much I'd like to try."

"The solution to your problem is very simply; try it all or as much as you can." Lily replied.

"But there's too many."

Lily let out a giggle. "You're making it really difficult for me to give you useful advice," she laughed twirling a strand of red hair around her index finger.

"Sometimes advice isn't something people want to hear." James answered back in a daze while watching Lily.

"Well if you don't try things out you'll never know what you missed?" Lily said turning towards him. Her emerald eyes locked instantly with his hazel ones. They held each others gaze for a few seconds.

"That's true," James whispered pushing back loose strands of Lily's hair which had blown into her face. He tucked it behind her ear and smiled. His gentle touch caught Lily by surprise. Her cheeks turned red with either embarrassment or shyness she was not sure which feeling was more dominate. This movement was new to her. She had no idea what reaction was suppose to follow.

James, himself, did not know why he did what he did. It just felt like the natural thing to do. He rather surprised by her reaction. It really was not a reaction at all. He assumed she would have stood up and started yelling at him. Instead she turned away blushing. Lily never blushed, well not around him anyway.

Lily and James were too preoccupied with their thoughts to hear the approaching footsteps. But they did hear the unpleasant voice which belonged to them.

"What do we have here?" came the voice of a (in James' opinion) slimy git Slytherin. Both Lily and James' eyes moved to the direction to the member of their rivaling house.

"Nothing that would interest you Snape," James retorted. Severus Snape was a seventh year Slytherin who most favourite thing to do was catch the marauders doing something wrong. Snape was one of the Slytherin Prefects. His and James hatred for each other was well-known throughout the school.

"Oh come now Potter how would you know what interests me?" Snape sneered.

"Call it a hunch," James answered not taking his eyes off his enemy. He refused to even blink with a Slytherin around.

"Severus you have no business here, now go." Lily stood up once again and pointing towards the path the black-haired greasy Slytherin with cold black eyes came from.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do **MUDBLOOD**; you have no power over me, even if you are Head Girl." Snape's insult left both Head student speechless.

"Bloody coward," James responded immediately getting to his feet. He had his fist out ready to strike his enemy in honour of Lily. Obviously he was not thinking clearly or else he would have grabbed his wand from his pocket.

"Well isn't this cozy, the only son of one of the oldest and predominate Pureblood families is standing up for a Muggle-Born. How low Potter." Snape said antagonizing James even more. "You're betraying your own kind."

"That's rich coming from a Slytherin," James retorted. "Come now, Snivelly do you honestly want me to regret saving your life." James had a way of getting under Snape's skin especially when he mentioned saving his life.

Snape hated it. He hated knowing he owed James Potter, of all people, a wizard's debt for saving his life. He hated everything about the Gryffindor honour but mostly he hated James.

Snape grabbed his wand from his robe and pointed it at James. He did not care if the Head Boy was armed or not. He did not even give James a chance to grab his own wand before whispering the _Stupefy _spell underneath his breath hurling a bolt of red light towards his opponent.

However, Lily as quickly as she could stepped between the two dueling boys and with her wand ready yelled _Protego. _A fuzzy magical barrier was the only thing protecting her and James from being rendered unconscious. When his spell hit the Head Girl's barrier it dissolved. As soon as the magical barrier disappeared Lily yelled the disarming spell, _Expelliarmus._ Snape's wand flew out of his hand and to the ground.

"Snape get out of here, I won't tell you again." Lily hissed. Snape did exactly what the Head Girl demanded. He picked up his wand and left scowling.

As much as the Slytherins hated Lily because she was a Muggle-Born, only a handful would actually risk confronting her and Snape was not one of them. He had seen the results of Lily's temper and like a lot of other students he did not want to be on the receive end of it.

"I didn't need your help. I was handling it myself." James told Lily as soon as Snape was out of audible range. He was not happy that Lily stepped into the middle of his fight.

"If I hadn't of stepped in you would be flat on your back unconscious," Lily stated trying to reason with the messy haired boy. _Why did males always get defensive when a girl stopped a fight or duel? Was it some kind of male requirement?_

"I'd rather be knocked out, then have a girl fight my battles," James said angrily waving his arms around to emphasis his point.

"I can't believe how unappreciative you are. I just saved you a lot of trouble and all you're worried about is being _Mr. Macho,_" Lily declared. _Boys could be so ridiculous sometimes. _

_Stupid Snape why did he have to come and ruin everything, _they were fine, getting along great and now they were back to fighting. The very thing both Head students wished to avoid.One of them had to stop this potentially fatal argument before it got to far and they were back at square one.

"Let's not start arguing. It never gets us anywhere except maybe a little more irritated." James said trying to take the high road. "Besides you wouldn't understand."

"You're the one who started it not me, and may be if you gave me a chance to understand rather than arguing about it." Lily retorted.

"Well then I guess I'm stopping it."

"Well it seems that way doesn't it." Lily agreed sitting back down on the same patch of green grass. The saying, '_never a dull moment,'_ most have been created just for her. Every time things seemed calm and normal, even if it was for day, it never lasted long.

"Can I ask you something?" James said after a few moments of silence. He had done this on purpose to let any remaining conflict from their recent argument disappear.

"It's never stopped you before," Lily replied. _Why did people always ask that question before they got to the one they actually wanted to know? Did they just want to add some kind of suspense? _Whatever the reason was Lily did not have the answer.

"Doesn't it both you when Snape or the other Slytherin gits call you…well…" James paused for a moment trying to find the best way to finish his sentence without offending Lily and repeating the fowl word the Slytherins used without thinking twice, "…you know that nasty word."

Lily was both shocked and amazed James would ask that. Sure he stood up for her when Snape had said it but she never expected him to be concerned about it hurting her feelings. She could tell he was being sincere; the look on his face gave him away.

Lily thought carefully before answering his question. It was quite personal and she did not want to give a reply which would make her sound weak especially in the eyes of the Head Boy and use-to-be enemy. But she did not want to lie either. Lying would accomplish nothing particularly when it came to James' attempt to try and get to know her better.

"In all honesty, I would be lying if I said it didn't," Lily said truthfully. "But then again it's just a word. Even though words may hurt sometimes it will never define who I am and what kind of witch and person I become. It bothers me less now than it did a few years ago."

Lily was proud of herself for the answer she gave. It was honest and aspiring well at least to her it was. It managed to bring a smile to her face and James' as well.

"Wow you really got your properties sorted out don't you?" It was more of a rhetorical question.

"Yeah," Lily nodded her head in agreement. At least they were getting along again. Hopefully this would carry on. There were only a few more hours before they would head to the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

"What time is it?" Lily asked James two hours later. There had been no further interruptions since Snape had left. It had been smooth sailing for them. They had continued their conversing, joking and teasing.

"It's about time we head over to the Three Broomsticks and join the others," James replied looking at his watch. Lily nodded her head in agreement and they both stood up from their spots. Together they walked down the same path they had climbed up to the Shrieking Shack. Back to the village and headed to the entrance of the famous Three Broomsticks to meet up with the rest of their friends.

All the way down Lily began to feel nervous this time it had nothing to do with James but had everything to do with Sirius and Ivory. _How would they act around each other? _Lily had seem them together earlier in the week and it took all her strength not break out in tears.

She was happy for Ivory the way a best friend is supposed to be but she was having difficulty accepting it. _Good thing she had better acting skills then she originally thought or else everyone would have figured it out already. _

Avoiding Sirius up till now was easy to do but since they were all going to hangout as a group, Lily had to interact with the older boy whether she liked it or not. She did not want to raise suspicion. She would rather forget about the whole thing, however, it was hard to do. All she could do was try and be as nice as possible.

Lily and James entered the crowded inn which was a small noisy smoky room. They immediately spotted their group of friends at the back gathered around a table. Remus was waving at them to come over and Sirius was pointing to two extra chairs.

The Head Boy and Girl walked away from the entrance and over to the group. The closer Lily got the table the more she tried to look anywhere else but at Sirius and Ivory sitting beside each other. _This was going to be awkward. _

Lily and James sat down with their friends at the table. Thanks to Remus Lily had not been forced to sit right next to Sirius. She was in fact sitting as far away as possible from him. Sirius was in the seat across from her beside Ivory. She had James and Peter on her right side and Remus and Artemis on her left.

"What took you guys so long? You're about fifteen minutes late?" Peter asked pointing out the obvious. All eyes were on Lily and James.

"Nothing we were up near the Shrieking Shack talking," James answered.

"Are you sure that's all you were doing?" Sirius teased moving his eyebrows up in down indicating there was more to their story than they were letting on. Of course he knew they were telling the truth _but he had to have a little fun right?_

"Yes that was all we were doing," Lily snapped sounding annoyed. The group stared at her in shock and Sirius tried his hardest not to look hurt. She honestly did not mean for her reply to sound so harsh. She was trying to go for a more teasing way _but things do not always go the way people expect them to._

"I…I'm sorry. That did not come out right," Lily apologized in her most sincere tone. "Does anyone want anything to eat or drink? I know I'm thirsty."

"Yeah sure," Lily heard her friends answer and they gave her their orders.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes," Lily said standing up from her seat.

"I'll go with you," James offered but Sirius stood up quickly.

"Its okay Prongs I'll help her out. I got to use the loo anyway." James looked at his best friend oddly but agreed to it nonetheless. It was really odd though for Sirius to jump at the chance to help anyone out even if it was a girl. _What could he really do?_ Sirius had to get up anyway; it just made more sense for him to go.

"Really guys I don't need anyone's help. It's not hard to carry a tray of drinks over here. In fact I do as a hobby." Lily argued, however, it got her nowhere. Sirius either did not hear a word she had said or ignored it. He had followed her to the counter.

"What can I get you?" A young looking woman asked Lily from behind the counter.

"Yes, can I get seven butterbeers," Lily asked politely.

"Actually it'd be better if you gave us seven mugs of Firewhisky." Sirius said putting in his two-cents.

The girl at the counter just smiled at the cheeky boy and Lily rolled her eyes. "Go back and sit down, I don't need your help." Lily snapped again.

"Lily we need to talk," Sirius said ignoring her request. "We need to sort this all out."

"We don't need to do anything. It was nothing so let's just drop it okay."

"No it's not okay Lily. You're one of my friends and I don't like it when any of friends are mad at me. I won't stop bothering you until you talk to me." Sirius stated. Things need to be sorted out or they would continue to escalate on a downward spiral and a lot of people would end up hurt. He had to do everything he could to convince Lily to listen to him.

"Look I'm flattered that you wanted to go with me, I know I'm sexy and irresistible. You don't have to be embarrassed. You're not the first girl I had to turn down." Sirius admitted proudly. This only made Lily madder.

"You're so full of yourself Sirius Black. Merlin you're even worse than Potter and that's hard to top. I can't believe you think I'm mad about being embarrassed for asking you out or even being turned down. Hell no I was over that a few days ago." Lily told him.

"What…What?" Sirius stuttered confused. "You aren't mad at me anymore? Then why are you giving me such a hard time?"

"I'm still mad at you but not for that. I think it is really low that you didn't bother telling me you asked my best friend out. Instead you only said _'I already asked someone,'"_ Lily answered mimicking the last statement.

Sirius stood there stunned, no knowing what to say. He never would have guessed Lily would be mad about that. "So you're upset because I didn't tell you I asked Ivory to go with me?" He was attempting to understand why this bothered the Head Girl so much.

"Just leave it alone, Sirius. I don't want to talk about it. I want to forget it okay." Lily demanded. Sirius wanted to sort this whole mess out. He wanted to deal with it the right way but the plea in Lily's voice made him change his mind. She can be persuasive when she wants to be.

Lily turned away from the tall boy and faced the counter, signalling she was finished with this conversation. Sirius got the hint and headed to the bathroom. Lily waited a few more minutes for the drinks, when the girl behind the counter finally gave her the tray. Lily grabbed it paying the one gallon and seven sickles for the drinks then made her way over to the table as best she could without spilling anything. James had come to give her hand even though she declined the help for a third time. Instead he helped her pass out the drinks.

Sirius came back from the loo a few minutes later feeling more relieved. The seven Gryffindors spent the next hour talking and hanging out, going through two butterbeers each. Sirius and Lily barely said more than two words to each other but it went unnoticed except by James.

* * *

James watched the interaction between Lily and best friend very suspiciously looking for any hints which would help him determine what had happened. What he could tell from their body-language was Lily was not happy with Sirius. _But why? _James still could not figure it out and it was annoying him to no end.

What was the reason everyone had to keep something from him especially when it concerned Sirius and Lily? Perhaps it was because Sirius offended Lily and the others knew he would be upset. _But that still did not make sense._ If that was the case then Lily would have told him herself.

"James," he heard someone call his name. He looked up from the wooden surface of the table which he had been staring at while lost in thought. His hazel eyes searched the rest of the occupants at the table to see who had called his name.

"James," repeated the voice, his eyes found the source. It was Remus.

"What?" James replied.

"I asked you when our first quidditch match is." Remus informed his recently dazed friend.

"Oh um…it's at the end of November beginning of December, about a month from now."

"Merlin it seems like such a long time from now. Has our team been practicing?" Ivory asked.

"Yeah, I devised a schedule for team practices and I plan to hold it twice a week." James answered as team captain it was his job to set up the practices and get the quidditch team ready for their first big match with Slytherin. After all the Gryffindor team had a reputation to up hold. They had won the Quidditch Cup every year since James had been on the team.

The rest of the group carried on with the chatting. James, however, went back to watching Sirius and Lily again. Though there was not much more to watch since Sirius was no longer with the Head Girl and she was on her way back with the drinks.

James stood up from his seat and went to offer a hand to Lily which she declined, though he managed to convince her to let him help distribute the drinks.

"Sirius did you get lost on your way to the loo?" Peter asked when the taller boy sat down.

"I had to stop and talk to my adoring fans," Sirius replied egotistically a wide grin appearing on his face.

"What adoring fans?" Artemis asked sarcastically and added, "The ones in your head?"

Everyone but Sirius started laughing.

"Hahaha!" Sirius mocked. "That was so funny Artemis."

"I know and I didn't even try." Artemis said now she was the one being conceited.

During the next hour before heading back to the school, James imperceptibly as he could, kept an eye on Lily and Sirius. The exchange he observed between them certainly confirmed his suspicions something had happened. They were avoiding each other.

They would not keep eye contact for very long and every time Lily's eyes locked with Sirius's she gave him a cold glare. When Lily did speak to Sirius, James could hear the sarcasms in her voice, though she tried to disguise it.

His friend's suspicious behaviour was staring to drive the Head Boy insane. He had to know what was going on even he had to force it out of one of them.

When everyone finished their second butterbeers, they got up from the table with packages in hand and headed for the exit of the Three Broomsticks and up to Hogwarts.

* * *

The decorations for the Halloween feast had appeared and were floating above the student's heads. Thousands of bats flew from the ceiling and walls of the Great Hall and flapped around above the four house tables. The tables were decorated with every kind of wizarding sweet imaginable and the students spent no time digging in.

Lily, Artemis and Ivory filled their plates with portions of healthy food before they dug into the sweets but the marauders went straight for the candy. The boys not only filled their plates, they also filled their pockets and pillowcases they had brought down from their dorms. The three girls simply shook their heads and laughed at the boys silly antics.

A few minutes before 7:00 p.m., the marauders were eagerly looking at James' watch. Something was about to happen. Lily could tell just by looking at the grins on their faces. It was going to be something big.

When the big hand of James' watch stuck 7:00 clattering was heard coming from the Slytherin table. It was the golden plates, platters, goblets and silverware which were making the peculiar noises. The entire student body and staff turned to look at the Slytherins. Within seconds food up and down the Slytherin table began to floating in the air. Well you can guess what happened next, the once floating food was now all over the Slytherins. The rest of the students burst out laughing while the Slytherins look at the smiling and waving marauders with pure malice. Snape who was cover in most of the food glared specifically at James. The expression he wore clearly said he would get the Head Boy back, one way or another.

McGonagall tried hiding her giggling by replacing it with a stern look and the Head of Slytherin; Professor Vladimir did not look happy at all. He glared at the four troublemakers while Dumbledore had _that_ familiar twinkle in his eyes.

The four Gryffindors stood up from their seats and took a bow. Soon the excitement from the prank wore off and the feast continued. The seven Gryffindors stuffed themselves full with candy, sweets and other good foods.

Before the students were dismissed from the feast the Headmaster stood up, waiting patiently for the noise to settle, the white bearded man spoke. "Will the two Head students please stay behind?"

The entire student body got up from the four tables, heading towards the double doors while Lily and James who told their friends to go on without them went up to the Head table.

"You wanted to talk to us Professor?" Lily asked politely.

"Yes, I wanted you two to patrol the corridors tonight, make sure no students are out wandering around. We don't want a repeat of last Halloween, do we Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore said smiling at James.

"No Professor we don't," James answered.

"Good." Dumbledore replied. "Well I will let you two be on your way."

"Yes Professor," the two Head students said in union.

"What did Dumbledore mean when he said _'we don't want a repeat of last Halloween, do we Mr. Potter?'_' Lily asked interested in find out what kind of mischief James and his friends had gotten into last Halloween.

"Well Sirius, Remus, Peter and I managed to stick Mrs. Norris on the ceiling last year. It took Filch three hours to get her down." James said proudly.

"How did you get her on the ceiling?" Lily asked almost immediately realizing it was a stupid question.

"We nicked some muggle glue from the Muggle Studies classroom then tracked down Filch's cat after dinner. We first levitated her slapped some glue onto the pads of her paws, turned her upside down and levitated her up to the ceiling, the glue then did the rest."

"Why would you do that to an innocent cat?" Lily asked amazed.

"That cat is far from innocent. She deserved what she got and so did Filch for sticking his nose in our business."

"That doesn't give you the right to attack an animal." Lily scolded James. It never seized to amaze her just how immature James Potter could be. She could understand him pulling a prank on Filch but why did he have to endanger a cat to get under the old mans skin. It was inhumane in Lily's opinion.

"Oh well it doesn't matter. It happened last year." James said brushing off the whole incident as if it was no big deal.

"Yeah well it's the principle." Lily stated making sure she had the last word on that particular subject.

"Whatever you say," was James reply. The next two hours, Lily and James spent walking down the corridors of Hogwarts running into varies teachers, resident ghosts and wandering students.

"It's ten o'clock you're not allowed to be wandering around the corridors this late at night." Lily said lecturing two third year Hufflepuffs who they had caught out of their common room. "Head off to bed before I give you a detention."

The two Hufflepuffs nodded their heads and hurriedly ran pass Lily and James.

"So why was Snape so upset when you mentioned saving his life earlier today?" Lily asked as if were no big deal.

James came to a dead stop as soon as the question had left Lily's lips. The expression he wore mirrored what he was thinking. '_What made her ask that? What should I tell her? I can't tell her the truth,'_ James thought. Instead nonchalantly said, "Why…why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason its just it puzzled me," Lily responded not registering James discomfort regarding her question. "So why was Snape upset because of your statement?"

"I…I can't really tell you why. I'm sworn to secrecy." James stated simply. "I'm sorry."

"Oh that's okay, no need to apologize. I know what it's like to have a secret and not be allowed to tell someone. We all have our secrets."

James was relieved to hear Lily was not the type of person to pressure him to give them information he was not allowed to share_. Merlin, everything about Lily made his heart beat faster. _

"Thanks for understanding," James said.

Lily gave the Head Boy a small smile as a response. The two continued patrolling the corridors until midnight. Lily managed to lecture three other students and give one detention within that span of time.

When their patrolling shift ended they head up to the corridor which held the Head's quarters where they entered. They said a quick 'goodnight' to each other and went to their separate rooms and got ready for bed.

Lily and James had to admit to themselves, this had been one of the best Halloween's they had experienced and they had spent it together.

* * *

James lay in bed staring into the blackness which filled his room. He had been doing this for three hours already. He could not sleep and it was not because of the bright flashes of lightning which followed the roaring thunder or the constant pounding of rain hitting the glass of his windows. No the reason this sixteen year old boy could not sleep was because his thoughts would not rest.

The images of Lily and Sirius at the counter seemingly in the middle of an argument would not leave James alone. The storm sounding outside his window was not helping him either. As soon as he began to drift off a loud crack of thunder would jolt him from his sleepy state and his mind would wander back to Lily and Sirius.

_What were those two hiding? What were they all hiding from James? _He had to know. The two choices he had were to lay awake all night or go and confront Sirius. He could, of course, risk bugging Lily but even he was not that stupid. Sirius would be upset and complain for a while but that would be it. With Lily there was no telling how she would react to been woken up in the middle of the night and James was not about to find out.

He took a few more minutes to think over his decision before finally pulling off his heavy covers and getting out of bed. He walked over to his school truck which was placed at the end of his four-poster bed and opened it. He dug through some of the junk he had contained in it until he felt water-like material. James then pulled out a shining, silvery cloth out and wrapped it around himself, completely disappearing from view.

James quietly crept through the Head dormitory, out into the pitch dark corridor and down a hall or two until he came face to face with the Portrait of the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Ouvrez," James whispered and the Fat Lady's Portrait moved aside. He stepped through the hole and made his way across the deserted dimly lit common room over to the stairway of the boy's dormitories. He walked up the spiralling staircase to the seventh boy's dorm, pushed the wooden door open and walked in.

The first thing that stuck his ears was the sound of very loud snoring coming from the occupants. Their snoring sounded like out-of-tune musical instruments. James silently laughed to himself while shutting the door. _One thing he did not miss about sharing a dorm with his mates was their loud snoring. _

James tip-toed over to Sirius' bed which was right next to his old one and plopped himself on the floor, sitting on his knees he peered over the side of his best friends bed through the crack in the curtains.

"Sirius," James whispered trying to shaking his friend awake. Sirius let out a sleepy grunt and turned over facing the other way. James tried again but still no luck.

"Sirius, get up mate I need to talk to you," James said shaking his friend harder. This time he got more than just a grunt, he got a "bloody hell."

"What do want? Can't you see I'm sleeping here?" Sirius asked the younger boy sitting up in his bed and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost 4:00 a.m.," James answered.

"Bloody hell Prongs, it's too earlier or rather too late to be waking me up," Sirius whined.

"I can't sleep," James said getting up off the floor and sat down at the end of Sirius' bed. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Does it have anything to do with a pretty red head you share a dormitory with?" Sirius asked stating the obvious.

"Yes and no. It involves both you and her." James said. Sirius's heart skipped a beat. This could only mean one thing, James had noticed.

"Okay," he replied slowly. "What is it you need get off your chest?" Sirius was scared to hear the answer to his question. He did not know what James knew, if he had figured it out or if Lily had told him.

"Is there something happen between you and Lily?" James asked. Sirius was somewhat relieved to hear this question rather than any other ones. However, this question was not much better. He could either do the right thing and tell James the truth or lie.

Sirius thought over his choices quickly not really paying attention to the pros and cons list of the two options. Both could get him in deep water with his best friend. The best way for him to decide was to open his mouth and let the words come out.

* * *

© Mythology, November 3, 2004. 

Reposted, June 28, 2005


	8. Lies and Rifts

Well here is the edited chapter 8, as promised. I did change and added things to the few scenes. I will try to get chapter 9 out as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of the month.

I hope you enjoy this edited version and any criticism whether it is good or bad is greatly appreciated. It helps me to know what I should work on and tells me whether people like my writing style and story.

If there is any comments, questions or criticism please feel free to let me know. I might change the title of the chapter as well. If you can think of a better one to go with this chapter please do not hesitate to suggest one.

Happy Independence Day to the Americans. I celebrity Canada's birthday on July 1.

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly and any other unknown characters.

* * *

The Previous Generation

Chapter 8: Lies and Rifts

'_It's six in the bloody morning!' _Sirius thought to himself as he looked at his alarm clock which sat on his bedside table buried under a weeks worth of clothing. The marauders were never the cleanest group of boys.

It was one of the few days a week where Sirius got to sleep in and yet here he was wide awake while his roommates and the rest of the school were sleeping peacefully. They did not have the nagging feeling in the pit of their stomach or a noisy conscious voicing it's opinion in the back of their heads.

'_Well James I hope your mind is at ease now, because mine sure as hell isn't.'_ Sirius whispered to the surrounding darkness but not loud enough to disturb the other occupants in the dorm. It was because of James' late night visit that Sirius could not get to sleep.

"_Is there something going on between you and Lily?"_ Sirius heard the question repeated in his mind. It was the very question which had been haunting him since James had asked it.

(Flashback)

"_Is there something going on between you and Lily" James asked. Sirius was somewhat relieved to hear this question and not one he was expecting. However, this question was not any better. He could either do the right thing and tell James the truth or lie._

_Sirius thought over his choices quickly not really paying attention to the pros and cons list of the two options. Both could get him in deep water with his best friend. The best way for him to decide was to open his mouth and let the words come out._

"_What do you mean, Prongs?" were the first five words he managed to get out. They might not have been the most brilliant ones but at least it bought him sometime to come up with a plausible answer, whether it was a lie or had yet to be determined._

"_I don't know," James answered confused. "…it's just that I saw you and Lily arguing earlier, and the way she snapped at you before that. I...I just get the feeling that everyone's hiding something from me and I don't know if it's my own paranoia or…"_

_Sirius did not hear the last part of the Head Boy's explanation because he had trailed off._

"_Well um…Prongs there's not…nothing going on between Evans and me," Sirius stated hoping he said it with enough confidence that James would not notice he was lying._

_He did not entirely lie to his best friend; he just simply left out the part about Lily fancying him rather than James. But then why did a half-truth still make him feel so guilty?_

"_Are you sure?" James asked giving his friend a strange look._

"_Ye…yes" Sirius_ _replied, fighting the urge to tell the younger boy everything. It was not easy for him to lie to James with a straight face, he had never done it before and he sure as hell wished he did not have to do it now. _

"_Okay," James had said unsurely. He managed to give Sirius a thankful smile before saying goodnight and heading back to his own room, leaving Sirius to ponder in the dark._

(End of flashback)

Almost six-thirty now and Sirius still could not fall asleep. If there was one thing Sirius knew, he was going to be extremely tired without getting his required eight hours of sleep. At best he had only gotten half of it, he'd be lucky if he could get anymore. He turned over onto his stomach and buried his head under his fluffy pillow hoping his guilty conscience would _shut up_ and let him get to sleep.

* * *

The Gryffindor Quidditch team had met on the pitch at 8:30am Sunday morning to begin their first practice for the month of November. James being the captain of Gryffindor wanted to get he team prepared as much as possible for the up coming game at the end of the month even if that meant early morning practices five or six times a week. James however was the only one of his teammates who felt this way. The rest of the team would rather be sleeping. But none of them had the guts to question their determined captain.

"Everyone get enough sleep?" James asked his team not really caring if they did or not. If there was one thing James was serious about, it was Quidditch.

The group of them just mumbled, nodded and yawned in response.

"Good, glad to hear it, now get on your brooms and do five laps 'round the pitch. The morning breeze is sure to wake you up," said James but halting Artemis. "Tem, hang back a sec."

"Yeah?" she asked moving closer with broom in hand toward the messy haired captain. "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Sirius is? I didn't see him at breakfast and obviously he isn't at practice."

"How should I know where he is? He's your mate not mine." Artemis stated.

"Yeah but he's dating Ivory and she's your mate," James said.

"They're not dating officially! They just went to Hogsmeade together, same as you and Lily and Remus and me. We all agreed to be friends and that is what we are trying to do."

"I was only asking no need to for arguing." James said, "Enough chit chat get up in the air and do your laps."

"You were the one who kept me behind remember." Artemis replied getting on her broom. She flew upwards and joined the rest of the team shortly followed by James.

* * *

"Hey Sirius aren't you suppose to be down at the pitch with the rest of the team?" Remus asked while hitting Sirius with a pillow in an effort to wake him up.

"That's what the reserve beaters are for," Sirius mumbled still half asleep pulling his pillow over his head to block out the light which poured in through the open hangings.

"The reserves are there for the purposes of a player being sick or to switch up when the game goes on for a long period of time not because some of the players decide to be lazy." Remus informed him.

"What are you the bloody quidditch manual?" Sirius asked irritably sitting up enough to look at his friend who had a huge grin plastered across his face.

"No but without a good reason I know Prongs is going ream your ass out later for not showing up to practice. You've been on the same team with our captain since second year; you know how he is when it comes to quidditch."

"Prongs owes me about three hours of sleep so I think he will let this time slide," Sirius replied laying his head back down on his pillow and closing his eyes. He figured there was no point in actually going back to sleep with Remus still in the room, especially after his last reply.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked the darker-haired boy giving him a puzzled look. If there was one thing Sirius was good at as of late, it was getting Remus' attention with simple phrases such as _'Prongs owes me about three hours of sleep so I think he will let this time slide.' _

Sirius let out a sigh at Remus' question, opened his eyes and looked at his friend who was awaiting his answer. "He knows something's up or at least he's suspicious of it. He came in here last night around 4 am asking me if something was going on between me and Lily."

"What did you tell him?" Remus asked nervously. It was official Sirius was never good with a situation like this. Hell Sirius was rarely ever good in any kind of situation that required quick collective thinking. Not to say Sirius was not intelligent or anything. Sirius after all was one of the top students in academics in Hogwarts. However, he was not one that handled spontaneous situations (unless it was troublemaking), well. That was one of Sirius' weaknesses.

"I told him that I was snogging Lily behind his back and that she got mad at me because I missed our latest snogging session." Sirius replied sarcastically. "Do you think I would be stupid enough to say anything that would involve him pounding me into the ground? I wouldn't do that to him or any of you guys. You know that."

"Well the stupid part of that statement might be questionable," Remus teased then asked in a more serious tone. "So then what did you tell him?"

"I told him no, that there was nothing going on between Evans and me and left it at that."

"So you lied to him," Remus stated giving Sirius a knowing look. When all of these lies came out or everything was revealed a lot of people would be hurt. Remus was clear of that. It was only a matter of time before it was all out in the open instead behind everyone's back. Remus was actually surprised the secrets had lasted this long.

"What else was I suppose to do?" Sirius asked his friend frustrated climbing through the hangings of his bed. Remus following the older boy's lead and leaned against the closest bed post while Sirius stared at him from the opposite side of his bed arms crossed against his chest. "You were the one who said we should keep it all a secret."

"Yeah but this is getting bloody ridiculous Padfoot. There is too much deception going on. This is not what our friendship is based on. There comes a point in your live when you have to make decisions for yourself and stop relying on James and me to help you through them." Remus said harshly. "You know what I am done with this situation. I am heading down to the pitch. You can either join me or continue hiding up here and wait for James to confront you again. I don't care."

Remus walked passed Sirius who stared at him in shock but made no effort to follow. Remus just rolled his eyes as he walked out of the room, through the school and down to the pitch to watch the practice.

He was not really upset with Sirius. It had more to do with Sirius' actions than anything else. Remus was just getting tired of having to constantly cover for Sirius because of his thoughtlessness for the others around him. It was time for Sirius to deal with something on his own. Remus had every intention of being supportive but from now on he was going to stay out of the affair that involved Sirius, Lily and James. Too many things could go wrong and Remus did not want to be put in the position of choosing sides.

* * *

Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team ended a few minutes before Remus had made his way out to the pitch. The players with the exception of James and Artemis were already making noise in the change rooms. Breakfast was almost over and if the team wanted to catch the last few minutes of it they had to hurry and get back up to the castle.

James had kept the team there for forty-five minutes even against the protests of his hungry teammates. _Well if they had gotten up earlier like he suggested they would not have to hurry to catch the last fifteen minutes. Why did his teammates not take quidditch practice as serious as him? He did not hold these practices just for his benefit. Quidditch was a team effort after all. However he seemed to be the only one interested in winning the Quidditch Cup. _

James had been at the pitch flying around a whole half-an-hour before everyone else. He really wanted to win the match against the Slytherins. It was important to him. Since he had joined the team Gryffindor had not lost a match and this being his last year he wanted it to stay that way.

"Hey Remus, what are you doing out here this early?" Artemis asked the approaching boy.

"Hi," Remus said acknowledging both Artemis and James. "I'm just out for a walk. Figured I'd come and watch the practice but apparently I'm too late."

"Only by a few minutes," Artemis said placing the quidditch balls in the box while James was flying around trying to catch the escaped snitch. "Everyone else is heading off to get what is left of breakfast."

"Well why aren't you with them?" Remus asked.

"Because I decided to help James put the equipment away. Everyone else was in a rush and our seeker left before catching the snitch so James is doing it." Artemis explained as the two stood beside each other watching the Head Boy fly around after the small golden ball.

"Really so then I assume you are going to need some breakfast before we get started on our studying?" Remus asked taking his eyes from the figure flying around the pitch and looked at Artemis.

"That would probably be a good idea. Not unless you want to see me in a bad mood." Artemis stated returning Remus' look.

"Aren't you like that everyday?" Remus teased the black-haired girl.

"Ha-ha!" Artemis let out a sarcastic laugh and gently pushed Remus. "That's really funny Remus Lupin."

Remus and Artemis' attention was drawn away from each other by the yelling of James. "I GOT IT." The Head Boy yelled down to his friends sitting thirty feet above them on his broom while holding a struggling golden ball in his hands. The messy haired boy then flew down to the ground and jumped off his broom.

"Wow that didn't take long," Artemis said to James.

"Yeah well I'm on a schedule," James responded putting the snitch away. He picked up the case of balls and returned them to the broom shed.

"What do you mean you're on a schedule?" Remus asked giving his friend a confused look. _In all the years Remus had known James, the raven-haired boy never kept to a schedule unless it was for school._

"Lily and I are working on our homework and going over plans for the next Prefect meeting today. I'm supposed to meet her in five minutes." James explained.

"Well don't let us keep you." Artemis said.

"Thanks, I'll talk to guys at dinner." James said then made his way up towards the castle.

"Well then how about some breakfast Miss West." Remus said pleasantly offering his arm to Artemis in a gentlemen like fashion.

"That is a lovely suggestion Mr. Lupin." Artemis replied looping her own arm around his, "Lead the way."

"But of course," Remus said as both he and Artemis began walking towards the castle talking and laughing.

* * *

Lily was sitting on the scarlet couch in the Head common room with all of her school books scattered about the table. She was waiting for James to show up.

'_Where is he? I told him to be here ready to work by 10:00 a.m.'_ Lily thought to herself. She looked at the clock again for the tenth time, 10:05 a.m.

She let out a frustrated sigh and moved from her spot on the couch to the floor, sitting cross-legged in front of the table. She picked up her transfiguration textbook and turned it to the section dealing with transfiguring animals from one species to another.

She had an essay due for McGonagall the next morning but no matter how many times she read the chapter nothing seemed to make sense. As hard as it was for her to admit it, she needed James' expertise on this subject. _So where the hell was he?_

After one more failed attempt to understand the chapter, Lily crinkled up the piece of parchment she was using, into a ball and throwing it along her quill across the room out of annoyance. Her quill almost hit James as he entered the common room.

"Hey, sorry I'm late but do you really need to be throwing things at me?" He said confused.

"I wasn't aiming at you on purpose. I'm just stuck on the transfiguration essay..." Lily explained pausing for a briefly second preparing herself as she asked the Head Boy for help. It was the last thing she wanted to do but it was her only option, "…and I could really use your help with it."

James smiled at her as he bent down and picked up her quill which had landed inches from his feet. "I would be happy to help you Lily. I finished my essay the night it was assigned. But I need to get a shower first." James replied walking towards Lily and handing her the quill.

"Yeah I think your right. You need one. I could smell you from over here when you walked in." Lily teased waving her right hand in front of her nose to emphasize her joke while taking the quill with her left hand.

James only smiled back at her. "I'll be out in a few minutes." He said then headed off to his room to drop off his quidditch gear and grab some clean clothes. He came back out and headed straight for the bathroom while Lily took out her History of Magic textbook and another piece of parchment.

* * *

James came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later no longer covered in dirt and sweat. He took a seat beside Lily on the floor.

"So what's the problem with your essay?" He asked getting right down to business.

"I just don't understand the point in changing an animal from one form to another. When will it be useful to change a rabbit into a horse?" Lily questioned using the rabbit and horse as an example.

"You may never use transfigurations for that actual purpose but this is kind of a practice method for if and when you become an animagus." James stated trying to make it as clear as possible.

"Well I don't have a problem with changing inanimate objects like a chair into a broom but when it comes to changing animals or even people into different forms, I don't find it to be an important skill."

"Why not?" James asked curiously. He'd never really known anyone to be against becoming an animagus. "Are your afraid of it?"

"No," Lily answered sternly but also sounding uncertain. "I...I don't know, maybe. I guess I'm just scared that I'll screw up and ruin the animal's genetic code or something."

"I wouldn't put it passed you. I've seen your handy work in transfigurations and let me tell you, I wouldn't trust you to transfigure an apple into a banana." James teased but Lily did not seem to be amused by his joke.

"Look, not everyone is a genius in transfigurations like you are. Some people do struggle to pull off good work in that class." Lily said getting upset and even more upset. "You know I work my ass off to get the grades I get in that class. Transfigurations is the only class I worry about and I would appreciate it if you kept your jokes to yourself."

"I'm sorry Lily," James apologized instantly. Lily was seriously ready to gather up her books and go into her room and James knew that. If she did that then they would get nothing accomplished. "You're not really that bad at transfigurations, I've tutored Peter since first year. You just need to learn to focus more. Try not think about anything else but turning an animal into another form. It's when you lose your concentration that gets you into trouble."

James spent the rest of the hour explaining, in detail; to Lily what the chapter was about and how too successfully complete this certain type of transfigurations. It sure did the trick. By the end of her essay Lily felt more confident about the subject and was ready to actually do the transfiguration. James even caught a bug for Lily to practice turning into a pig. After two failed tries she finally got it without any trouble.

"Thanks," Lily said giving James a hug to show her appreciation for his help. The hug was not something she planned or thought about. It was simply spontaneous action. However, almost as soon as she hugged him she pulled back embarrassed but James was to stun to notice.

Lily and James were friends and they were becoming close ones at that. Though they were not friends who made any kind of physical contact or at least they were not in that stage of their friendship yet. It was not that the hug was an uncomfortable feeling. Actually it felt really natural for the both of them; it just caught them by surprise.

"Um…have you finished all of your homework?" Lily asked fiddling with her hair, hoping to cause a distraction.

"For the most part, there are a few things I have to finish." James answered taking out his quill and some parchment. Lily's question seemed to the trick, "How about you?"

"I want to go over my essays, check for grammar and punctuation." Lily replied unrolling her Arithmancy essay and began skimming through it while James read his assigned chapter for muggle studies.

The Head students worked on their homework in silence. The only sound heard between them was a sigh here or a cough there. The silence lasted an entire twenty minutes providing enough time for both Lily and James to forget about the hug they shared. Lily managed to finish correcting her Arithmancy essay and had moved on to her Charms homework. James, on the other hand, was still working on his muggle studies homework.

James sighed inwardly, "I don't understand how muggles can live without the connivance of magic. Spending a whole summer without the option to use magic is unbearable as it is. But muggles live like that every day of their lives." James said startling Lily from her quiet ravine.

"What?" Lily asked looking away from her work and at James. He sure knew how to distract her at the worst possible times. She only had three more paragraphs to read through. "What are you going on about?"

"Nothing, just talking to myself," James answered not realizing she had heard his ramblings. "I was just trying to work out my answer to one of the homework questions for muggle studies."

"Well I'm sure if more muggles knew about the wizarding world they would share your opinion." Lily stated returning her concentration back to her essay.

"What do you mean?" James asked distracting the Head Girl again.

"I mean…," Lily started placing her quill on the table and looking into James' hazel eyes. "…if muggles had the opportunity to use magic I'm sure they would or at least some of them. But then from experience magic doesn't necessarily make life any easier. Sometimes I think it can be more complicated."

"Really, why is that?" James asked inquisitively.

"I don't know. I guess because magic comes with so many rules and maybe it has something to do with growing up without it." Lily answered being truthful. There were times when Lily had thought muggle life was simpler than a magical one. But there were times when she thought it was the other way around. It was hard for her to tell which lifestyle was easier. Living with the ability to do magic sure made things go by a lot faster. Without a wand it usually took Lily longer to style her hair a certain way or even do chores. However, when it came to the education of magic, knowing all of the different spells, wand movements and potions Lily found that to be more of a challenge than any muggle courses she had taken before she started at Hogwarts.

Lily was proud of her family background. Though being a Muggleborn did have its ups and downs, most of the time Lily was happy she grew up with knowledge of both worlds. She could see both point-of-views and was unbiased when discussions about magical and non-magical way of life broke out.

"It makes sense," was James' response.

"Well I'm glad you agree," Lily replied sarcastically smiling at James which he returned.

It did not take Lily and James long to finish the remainder of their homework. By noon both Head students had pushed their textbooks aside and started planning out the Prefect meeting.

* * *

Artemis and Remus who were sitting in the library had just completed their assignments for the past week. They had been sitting there, after having a quick breakfast from the kitchen, for about three hours engaged in deep conversation and homework.

"So have there been any new developments in the Lily-James-Sirius and Ivory rectangle?" Artemis asked Remus knowing full well he would know about the circumstances than she would.

"Well not really. I kind of went off on Sirius today about involving me in that rectangle. All I know is that James approached him last night about him and Lily. He spent the rest of the night lying a wake in bed."

"So that's why he wasn't at practice. Did Sirius tell James the truth?" Artemis asked surprised by the news.

"No he lied to him. Look lets change the subject. I really don't feel like talking about that," Remus said. He just wanted everything to go back to normal. For his friends lives to be less complicated and not have to lie or keep secrets from one friend just to protect another.

"Okay, then subject is changed. With all the practices James has scheduled for our team I think our chances of winning are really good." Artemis stated switching to one of her favourite topics and one that she knew Remus would be willing to discuss.

"Gryffindor hasn't lost a game in almost a decade," Remus replied. "This year I doubt will be any different."

"You never know. It could be and besides you wanted to talk about something else so I switched the conversation to quidditch." Artemis said smiling.

"Yeah I think you guys have good chances of winning this year," Remus laughed shaking his head.

* * *

"So it's agreed then, we will leave the patrol schedule the same for this week and at the meeting on Thursday we will ask the Prefects how they want it changed for next week and the rest of November." Lily said confirming it with James, dragging a line through the last thing on the list she had made. It had taken them majority of the afternoon to decide on the issues which were to be brought up at the next Prefect meeting. But after a few disagreements and compromises, they had finally settled on everything.

"Sounds good to me," James said sprawled out on the couch with his hand over his eyes. He was tired of working on his Head duties.

"Are you only agreeing with me so you don't have to work on this anymore?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"What would give you that idea?" James asked using another question to avoid answering the one Lily asked him.

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that you have barely objected to anything I have suggested in the last twenty minutes," Lily answered sarcastically.

"Am I that obvious?" James asked giving himself away.

"No not at all," Lily answered again with sarcasm but also smiling.

James watched as Lily gathered up her textbooks. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Putting my homework away, is that okay with you?" Lily responded.

She walked into her room with her arms filled with her books and parchment. She placed everything on her desk then went back into the common room where she found James reading a piece of parchment.

"What's that?" Lily asked curiously.

"I think it belongs to you," James answered handing her the note. On it was a list of potential story ideas for her school newspaper proposal she was planning to pitch to Dumbledore.

"Um…yeah…its ideas for the newspaper," Lily told him knowing he would ask her about it.

"How's that going?" James asked interested.

"I've arranged a meeting with Dumbledore for next Monday afternoon." Lily said.

"Well I'm sure he will agree with it. Do you think you will be able to handle being editor, Head Girl and the smartest girl in school?"

"I never said I was going to be editor. I will leave that up to Dumbledore and McGonagall to decide." Lily declared.

"Yeah but the school newspaper is your idea. Why wouldn't you be chosen as editor?" James asked confused.

"The editor should be determined because they are the best person for the job not because it was my suggestion," Lily explained.

"But it would make more sense for you to be the editor," James concluded.

"Well, I don't feel the same way. I would rather have Dumbledore choose." Lily replied putting an end to the conversation.

James shrugged his shoulders; it was Lily's idea after all. _He had nothing to do with it._ "Okay, it's your choice. Let's go eat, I'm hungry."

Lily nodded and followed James to the door. "Oh by the way, this Saturday Ivory and Artemis are going to be staying the night. You know our monthly girls night." Lily told him as they were walking down to the first floor.

James stopped in mid stride and stared at Lily with a bewildered look. "You mean that's a monthly thing?"

"Yep," Lily said. "Is something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just last time me and the guys had to relocate because you stared to bother us." James said carefully.

"Well then I suggest you and the rest of the marauders stay clear of the Head tower that night." Lily laughed and continued on her way.

"Hey, may be I will just have the guys over too." James yelled to her. _'Yeah that's what I'll do.'_ He thought to himself as he too made his way to the Great Hall.

* * *

James entered the seventh year Gryffindor boy's dormitory shortly after dinner had ended, to find his missing best friend. No one had seen Sirius all day.

"Sirius, are you here?" James asked opening the door though he received no verbal reply instead it turned out to be more of a grunting noise.

"I'll take that as a yes," James thought to himself. "Padfoot time to wake up," James called out to the snoring boy as he approached his bed.

Sirius grunted again and turned over facing the opposite direction.

"Sirius," James tried once again but still no luck. James lack of ability to wake up his friend did not sway the Head Boy. It simply meant he had to be more creative and with that an idea popped into his head.

James grabbed Sirius' wand from his bedside table and whispered the levitating charm, _'Wingargium Leviosa,' _lifting Sirius and his mattress. It hovered a few inches above the bed until James said the reverse charm and it fell with a crash back into place, waking Sirius up.

"Ow, what the hell?" Sirius asked confused rubbing his head. He looked around allowing his eyes to get use to the light before they landed on his best friend who was holding his stomach and laughing.

"What the hell did you do that for Prongs?" Sirius asked angrily getting out of bed. He stormed over to where the Head Boy stood, put his hands on his hips and glared at James.

"I had to get you up some how and you weren't answering my calls," James replied grinning.

"Or you could've let me sleep," Sirius added.

"Sirius it's passed dinner. If I let you sleep any longer you will be up all night." James told him and pointed to the nearest clock. Sirius' eyes followed the raven haired boy's finger and he read the time, 6:50 p.m.

"You're joking right?" Sirius said walking over to the clock. He picked it up, "You must have changed it. What time is it really?"

"No that's the right time Sirius. Why'd you sleep so late anyway? You missed quidditch practice."

"Because you woke me up last night and I couldn't get back to sleep." Sirius answered irritably.

"Well I guess its pay back for all the nights you got me up. Now come on lets go raid the kitchens or something." James said heading for the door.

"Yeah I'll meet you in the common room. Just give me a few minutes to change." Sirius answered. He was amazed James did not question him about sleeping so late anymore than he did. He also could not believe he had slept almost twelve hours missing his favourite three meals of the day. He quickly grabbed some pants and a tee-shirt from the floor, went into the bathroom and shut the door.

* * *

The first Saturday of November started off peaceful. It was cold enough for a frost to blanket Hogwarts grounds and for those who ventured outside the castle to see their breath. Pretty much all the leaves had fallen from the trees and warm cloaks were required when outside. However, these days most of the students preferred to be inside where they could sit by the fire and keep warm. This was Lily's plan for her Saturday morning anyway.

She was sitting on the couch in the Head common room wrapped up in a blanket she took off her bed with a book in her hands. Like usual the Head Girl was up with the sun while the rest of the school slept.

The week had gone by slowly for Lily, and she was happy to have this day off from classes and that night she, Artemis and Ivory were going to have a girl's night in. Frankly she was looking forward to it. She had had a blast last month and hoped this month would be just as fun.

Also she would be able to hangout with Ivory without having Sirius around. Lily and Sirius were still not speaking. Not that it mattered or anything. The past week it seemed though, that Sirius and Ivory were attached at the hip. Wherever, Ivory was Sirius was either behind her or beside her. Lily had tried to convince herself that this did not bother her and she was putting up a pretty good façade. But she did not give herself the time to process the new arrangements out of fear she would begin to feel jealous.

Lily lay down on her stomach switching into a more comfortable position. She read a few chapters of her book before dosing off. She was awaked at noon by James who was trying to leave their quarters as quietly as possible. Unfortunately it did not work out how he expected. He managed to run into the table and trip over something on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked weakly trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"I was going down to lunch. I didn't want to wake you." James replied sitting in a chair across from the redhead and rubbed his banged up knee.

"Well your plan worked," she said sarcastically standing up from the couch and stretching out her arms.

"Next time I suppose I will try being loud rather then quiet," James laughed. "Well do you want to come down to lunch with me since your up?" He asked getting out of his chair.

"Sure, why not? I missed breakfast so lunch has to be the next best thing." Lily answered walking towards the door. James let her go first; not wanting her to see him limping. There was definitely going to be a bruise on his knee cap and the pain still lingered with him every step he took, _ow, ow, ow._

* * *

The once cloudless baby blue sky had turned to black illuminating the starry night. It certainly would have been perfect for astronomy class. Lily, Artemis and Ivory had set up in Lily's room while the marauders who were protesting _'this girly behaviour,'_ as they referred to it, were camped out in James' room.

"So what are we going to do first? Annoy the boys, talk about boys or…"

"If you say anything that involves boys I think we're going to have to check you into a hospital." Lily replied interrupting Artemis' train of thought. Ivory let out a giggle.

"Okay, I get the point." Artemis said sitting cross-legged on Lily's bed.

"Besides I want to hear about Ivory's week," Lily said looking over at Ivory.

"What do you mean?" Ivory asked hating the fact Lily put her on the spot.

"You're spending every free moment with Sirius this past week." Artemis answered filling in the blanks. "So are you two a couple now?"

"I don't know, we've just been hanging out." Ivory replied bashfully.

"Have you two at least kissed or anything?" Artemis inquired excitedly. Ivory looked up at the ceiling chewing on her bottom lip.

"Well?" Lily pressed wanting to know the answer.

"We haven't had any all out snogging session yet, if that's what you're referring to but we've kissed a few times. He's actually really good at it." Ivory said confidently.

"Of course he's good at kissing. He's only dated about every girl in this school." Lily blurted out not realizing who she was talking to.

"So what does that matter? It's his business whom he dates or dated." Ivory said defensively. _Why was Lily attacking her?_

"It becomes my business when he's dating my friends." Lily answered. "Don't you understand Ivory you're just a fling. That's the only kind of dating Sirius is interested in. Once he gets bored with you he will move on and Artemis and I will be left to pick up the pieces."

"What is your problem?" Ivory asked becoming hostile._ Where was all this coming from?_ "What are you jealous I'm dating him or that I am not spending my time with you?"

"I'm not jealous of anything. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Sirius wouldn't hurt me," Ivory countered.

"Yeah well you don't know what he would do because you barely know him."

Artemis watched this horrible exchange between her two best friends. She had to stop soon before it got out of hand.

"Ivory, Lily that's enough. You're fighting over nothing. Sirius is only a guy and I don't care if you both like him or not, that's no excuse to fight." Artemis said then instantly covering her mouth with her hands. _Whoops!_

Both Lily and Ivory stopped glaring at each other and turned their attention to Artemis.

"What are you talking about Artemis? Lily, what is she talking about?" Ivory questioned darting her eyes between her two friends waiting for one of them to answer.

"Lily, I think you should tell her the truth. What's the point in keeping it a secret now anyway?" Artemis said inputting her two cents. Almost instantly Artemis knew to remain silent because both Lily and Ivory glared at her.

"That's it, someone better tell me what's going on **before I go across the hall and ask Sirius**." Ivory said. It was the first time Ivory had ever raised her voice in front of her friends.

"Alright, no need to get testy. It's not really a big deal now that you think of it." Artemis rambled hoping to make things easier but instead it made Ivory more irate.

"**I don't care if it's a big deal or not. It has to be a serious issue if you are keeping it from me**." Ivory replied angrily. She turned to Lily, "Well isn't this your secret? Shouldn't it be you telling me all this non-sense?"

"What do you want me to say Ivory?" Lily asked not entirely sure how to respond to her upset friend.

"The truth would be a good start." Ivory said looking the Head Girl in the eyes. "Well?"

"Okay…um…I sort of **had**, as in not anymore, a crush on Sirius. I didn't know you liked him so I asked to go with me to Hogsmeade but he declined because he had already asked you. I don't like him anymore." Lily told Ivory but also looking at Artemis.

Ivory had to take sometime to process this information. She really did not know what to say or what her reaction should be. What she did know though was she felt hurt and betrayed by one of the people she never thought could make her feel this way.

Ivory was in a state of shock, _how should she answer? Did she hear her friend right or was it all in her head?_ _One minute Lily was making up excuses for her not go out with Sirius and the next she is defending a crush she had or still has on him. _

She got up from her place on Lily's bed, her hands resting on her head, fingers threaded through her long brown hair. She stood rooted to her spot for a moment, in daze while her grey-blue eyes looked in every direction but that of her friends.

"Ivory please say something," Lily begged (something she rarely ever did), getting up from her chair.

Ivory brought her hands down to her sides, looked Lily in the eyes. "I…I…I have to go," she replied taking a few steps towards the doorway. She really did not want to be around Lily right now.

Ivory could understand why Lily did what she did. She could even hear the hurt in Lily's voice and see it in her eyes but that did not matter to her at this moment. The only thing that did matter was the fact Lily had hidden something from her.

Lily moved quickly to the door in hopes to stop her retreating friend. "Ivory, look I know I shouldn't have kept it from you and you have every right to be mad at me. I…I just….I," Lily rambled stuttering over her words. She let out a sigh and looked at Ivory sympathetically, "Please just say something. It was entirely a fluke and I shouldn't have been so selfish, only thinking of myself instead of how it would affect one of my best friends. I didn't mean to keep my crush on him a secret from you and I don't know why I went off on you like that."

Ivory stopped in front of the door, grabbing the handle. Lily had moved out of the way and Artemis was now standing at the foot of Lily's bed. Ivory had her head down, "You call me one of your best friends yet the lapse of judgement you showed makes me question that," she replied harshly opening the door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily said defensively following Ivory out of her bedroom and into the Head common room with her arms crossed.

"Think about it Lily, if you really considered me your best friend there should be no excuse why you would keep something like this from me. Hell I'm not mad that you and I like or liked the same boy but I'm upset that you think you had to hide this from me." Ivory told Lily tears welling up in her eyes. "You lied to me something I never thought you were capable of. Is that the reason you started hanging around with the marauders?"

"I didn't lie to you Ive. I only neglected to mention it." Lily said defending her choice. It was the truth.

"**Oh that makes it much better**," Ivory said sarcastically her voice was echoing around the common room and could be heard throughout the Head student's quarters even into James' bedchamber. "**Whether you lied straight to my face or you _'neglected to mention it,' _still does not excuse you. I don't care if you were trying to protect me. I would never keep something like this a secret and i expected the same from my friends." **

It was at this moment James' door opened and all four marauders came out to investigate the ruckus.

"What's going on here?" James' deep voice asked as he and the others stood outside of his doorway.

"This doesn't concern you." Lily responded quickly. She did not want the boys to get involved especially since it could turn out worse then it already was.

"Oh but it does," Ivory interrupted the Head Girl. "Why not let them know too, seeming as how you thought to tell Artemis (Ivory pointed to the black-haired girl), before telling me. Oh wait do they already know too?"

"Know what?" James asked clueless. He simply walked out of his room to find out what the commotion was about only to find himself in the middle of an argument. Though his two best friends beside him were squirming both knowing there was no covering up the truth.

"That my so-called-best friend decided to keep her crush on Sirius a secret from me," Ivory blurted out.

Ivory's revelation knocked James a few steps back. _What did she say? She had to be talking about Artemis liking Sirius. It couldn't be Lily. But then why was Ivory yelling at Lily and not Artemis? _

Ivory looked at James surprised by his reaction. She turned and looked Lily and Sirius square in the eye. "Apparently I'm not the only one who was in the dark."

Ivory shock her head and started towards the exit of the common room.

"Ivory," Lily cried out stopping her friend for a brief second.

Without turning around Ivory said only one thing, "I can't talk to you right now Lily. I don't want to say something I'll regret." Ivory's voice sounded strained and hurt. With that she walked out of the room and into the corridor.

Nothing was said between the remaining six people for several minutes. "I'm going to go see if she's alright," Artemis finally broke the silence. Lily nodded her head in agreement knowing Ivory needed her more. All Lily had to do now was prepare herself for the other half of the puzzle which involved James.

Remus and Peter decided Artemis' was the smart one by getting out and so they both gave an excuse to the remaining trio and left the Head's common room.

With everyone gone James finally found his voice again. He turned and looked Sirius straight in the eyes, "I asked you last Sunday whether there was something going on between you and Lily and you told me no. Have you two been seeing each other behind my back?"

"No…no….of course not. I would never do that to Ivory." Lily answered defensively. "And Sirius would never do that to you." She added after glancing at Sirius.

"**So instead you lied about a stupid crush**." James asked raising his voice. Here in front of him stood his best friend and the girl of his dreams in a position he never expected them to be in.

"**I didn't lie about anything**." Lily yelled back. "**I was never asked by Ivory**."

"Yeah but Sirius was," James said pointing to his best friend. "**And he lied to me**."

"Correction it was a half-truth," Sirius replied trying to make light of the situation but failing miserably. He instead received glares from both Head students. "There was nothing going on between Lily and me."

"I've already heard that part," James said bring the volume of his voice down. "I would like someone to fill in the blanks."

"I asked Sirius out and he decline. I was angry with him." Lily said becoming annoyed with having to tell this story over and over again.

"And because he said no you decided to ask me out instead right?" James asked crossing his arms against his chest and leaning on his doorway for support. He was really hurt.

"No that was entirely Sirius suggestion." Lily answered not caring if this turned ugly between Sirius and James. At this point nothing could get any worse. With everything out she no longer had an obligation to hide any of it. Her main concern for the time been was fixing things with Ivory. She would worry about repairing things with James and Sirius later.

Sirius shifted from one foot to the other. _Shit, shit, shit. This was a really screwed up situation. _"I'm sorry James."

"It's a little late for that Sirius." James countered. He stood up straight, walked into his room and slammed the door shut. He did not want to talk to anyone right now. He just wanted to be alone.

Lily and Sirius were left standing in the common room. Neither one knew what to say. They had both hurt two people they cared deeply for and considered family. _What were they going to do now?_

.Tears started to fall from Lily's eyes; she gave Sirius a sympathetic look before retreating to her room where she remained for the rest of the weekend, only coming out to go to the washroom.

Sirius with his head hung low left the Head dormitory, making his way back to Gryffindor tower and up to his own dormitory where he would spend the rest of the weekend figuring out a way to make it up to his best friend and Ivory.

This feud that was predicted but not preventable had created a rift between the two groups of friends leaving Artemis, Remus and Peter in the middle.

* * *

I would like to thank vickiicky for reviewing to my reposted chapters. I hope you find this chapter to be just as good.

Also I would like to thank kelliethehottie and everyone else who has reviewed to my story. Your patience is appreciated.

© By Mythology July 3, 2005

Reposted July 4, 2005


	9. Forgiveness and Meaning of Friendship

Here is chapter 9 as I promised; I will try to get chapter 10 up as soon as I can. Thanks for all those who reviewed and if there are any grammatical errors please let me know.

Any questions, comments or criticisms please let me know.

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters

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Chapter 9: Forgiveness and the Meaning of Friendship

It wasn't until Monday when Lily finally emerged from her room, dressed in her school robes and red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had opened her door at the same time James had.

He didn't even look over in her direction which Lily knew was because he was avoiding her not because he didn't see her. She felt really horrible that she had hurt him. But at the same time she felt relived everything was out. She had wasted too much energy trying to keep it all a secret. That was one of the realizations she had made while spending the weekend locked up in her room.

"Hey," Lily said awkwardly as she stepped farther into the Head common room, her emerald-green eyes staring at James. He did not respond to her greeting nor did he acknowledge her presence. Instead he made a beeline for the door. His face showed no emotion.

"James, please talk to me." Lily pleaded hoping it wasn't a lost cause. She enjoyed his friendship and the time they spent together. The best thing to come out of the whole Sirius infatuation was that she had gotten to know the real James. And she really didn't want their friendship to be lost because of some stupid mistakes that were made on her part.

James turned around and glared at the Head Girl, "You may want to talk _Evans_…" James replied harshly making Lily cringe at the use of her last name. "…but I have nothing to say to you."

"Look, we can't just leave this the way it is. We still have the rest of the year in which we have to work together." Lily said trying to reason with him. She wanted him to know how sorry she was for everything that had happened. It was after all mostly her fault.

"What do you think that a simple commitment we have to the school is going to make everything better? Come on, I know you're smarter than that." James responded, "I have things to do and I really don't want to waste my time on pointless conversations." With that James turned back towards the door without another word.

Lily sighed deeply, feeling the tears begin to fall from her eyes. "James, I don't want this to be the end of our friendship." She yelled at him desperately.

He only stopped for a brief moment though he did not turn around nor did he speak. He only stopped, standing in the doorway breathing deeply before leaving the room completely.

Lily stood there for awhile, her tears falling in streaks down her cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, yet she made no movement. She hadn't just mucked things up with Ivory but with James as well. He couldn't even look at her.

That had never happened in all the years Lily had known James. It scared her. She really hated herself right now. Not only did she possibly ruin her friendship with James and Ivory but she destroyed James' friendship with Sirius. _What was she going to do? How could she fix it all? _Lily just wanted to crawl into a dark hole and hide for the rest of the semester. It seemed like a perfect solution to her problems. There was no other satisfying alternative. But Lily knew it all had to be solved eventually.

Lily decided she needed a day off from school. Hell if this wasn't a good enough excuse too skip out, what else was there? Instead of going to class, Lily spent the rest of the morning curled up on the couch in the Head common room holding a pillow and crying. She had too much on her mind anyway and it would've prevented her from paying attention to McGonagall's lesson.

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Lily's encounter with James that morning was certainly more successful than the one Sirius had with him. At least Lily managed to get a few words out of the upset Head Boy. Sirius, on-the-other-hand, couldn't get a grunt out of him let alone words, glares or insult. There were only a handful of times in the Marauders history where Sirius and James were not speaking to each other. They would get angry, scream and yell, punch, poke, kick and all the other stuff boys did when they were irate with one another but rarely did they ever stop talking completely. It was when they stop talking everyone else knew the situation was dire.

Sirius had tried countless times that Monday to get his messy-haired friend to talk to him. Sirius hated it when they were on non-speaking terms. In fact all the marauders hated it when James and Sirius were mad at each other because it put a strain on all of their friendships. The only person James usually talked in these trying times was Remus but it wasn't a full out conversations either. James generally kept to himself.

"James, come on this is ridiculous. We are best friends, man, swallow up your pride and talk to me dammit." Sirius said as he followed James out of Double Charms. He was getting fed up with the silent treatment.

James didn't even turn around, he kept on his path towards the Great Hall with his books in hand and bag slung over his shoulder.

"Moony, what should I do? He won't talk to me." Sirius asked as the lighter haired boy came up from behind him.

"What do you want me to say Padfoot, he's hardly speaking to any of us at the moment. Just give him sometime and he'll come round eventually. He always does."

"I know I just wish he wasn't taking this so hard. I hate him being mad at me." Sirius confessed.

"There's nothing you can do Padfoot. What's done is done." Remus told him straight out. The werewolf wasn't going to try and comfort Sirius because it was his fault they were all in this mess. He had to deal with the consequence of his actions. This situation couldn't be fixed by anyone else but Sirius, James and Lily. The only thing Remus could do was be supportive of all his friends and he was determined not to choose sides.

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"Lily are you here?" Artemis called out as she entered the Head common room. She scanned the room for any sign of life, her eyes found a lump hidden under a bunch of blankets and dark red-hair sticking out from the top of them. Instantly she knew it had to be Lily.

"Lily," Artemis repeated gently shaking at the lump under the covers.

Lily's only reply was a mumbled moaning sound. She pulled the covers off of her, looking around for the person who had disturbed her to find herself looking into a pair of familiar brown eyes.

Lily had only just fallen asleep ten minutes before Artemis had entered the Head quarters and frankly, Lily wasn't really interested in having a conversation with anyone, let alone her best friend.

"Lily are you okay?" Artemis asked concerned sitting down on the table in front of the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just really didn't feel up to going to classes today." Lily answered trying to sound casual.

"Lily, you don't have to pretend to be strong. I know you're hurting right now." Artemis told Lily.

Lily took one look at her best friend, a girl who had been with her through everything imaginable over the past seven years. She knew she couldn't hide her feeling from her. So Lily just broke down.

"I am such a horrible person. Everything is so screwed up and I don't know how to fix it. There no manual for friendships," Lily cried the tears falling from her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"I know, but Ivory will come around. She is passed the stage of anger." Artemis said embracing Lily in a sisterly hug. "Look I'm sure if you talk to her, and explain everything now that it's been a few days and the situation has sunk in a bit, she'll forgive you."

"I don't know…" Lily said pulling back from Artemis' grasp, "…what I did was pretty terrible."

"Lily, keeping a crush from Ivory is not going to land you in Azkaban. I mean it's not like you slept with him behind her back or anything."

"I might-as-well have. I…I have never kept anything from either of you unless I had to." Lily said.

"Then why did you start with something as stupid as having a crush on Sirius?" Artemis asked trying to get her head around Lily's thought process.

"I don't know."

"Well may be you should figure that out. It might help you in your quest at seeking forgiveness from those you have wronged." Artemis told Lily, patting Lily on the shoulder supportively. After a few seconds, she said a quiet goodbye and heading towards the door, leaving Lily with her new found thoughts.

Not too long after Artemis left James had entered the Head dormitory. He carefully looked around the common room hoping Lily would not be there but to his disappointment she was.

The moment she heard someone come in she had lifted her head up from the headrest and glanced at James. He quickened his pace in order to get to his room without any verbal communication, but was stopped when Lily called out his name.

"James," Lily said bringing herself into a sitting position on the couch. He made no effort to acknowledge her; he just kept on his path towards his room, opening his door then shutting with little force as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

'_Oh no you don't,'_ Lily thought to herself getting up off the couch determined to pursue this matter and get everything straighten out once and for all. She walked right up to James door giving a short knock and opening it, not waited for an answer.

James was sitting at his desk working on his latest Transfigurations assignment when Lily barged into his room, she was fuming. _What exactly did she have to be mad about anyway? It was James who had been hurt and betrayed by her and his best friend. _

"Can't you see I'm busy Evans," James blurted out before Lily got the chance to say anything.

Lily sighed; she was getting tired of this. "So we've taken a step back now have we?" Lily asked crossing her arms and standing a few feet behind James. He had his back turned to her.

"What are you talking about?" James asked sliding himself around in his chair so he was facing the red-head.

"You…you've gone back to referring to me as Evans. I would say that's a step backwards, wouldn't you?"

"It depends," James answered simply turning away from her and picking up his quill, dipping it into his inkpot and started writing.

"Look, I never meant to hurt you." Lily told him uncrossing her arms and waving them around to emphasize her statement. "Neither did Sirius. I couldn't help that I develop a crush on Sirius, it happens. I am after all a teenage girl you know. You should be grateful that you and I are on better terms then we have ever been."

The last part of Lily's speech caught James' attention enough for him to turn back around and look her in the eyes once again. "What do you mean?"

"It was because of Sirius I decided to look passed your ego and see the real you. His encouragement and loyalty to you is the sole purpose I befriended you and the other marauders. I might have liked him but…" Lily hesitated, tearing her green eyes away from James hazel ones. She was trying to find the right words to finish her explanation with. "…our friendship did not happen because I had the ulterior motive to get with your best friend. I wanted to put the arguing between us in the past and leave it there. The truth is I'm really glad I got to know you James."

Lily stopped for another moment; she began fiddling around with her sleeves suddenly feeling nervous, something that had never happened before when she was around James. There were awkward feelings but never nervous ones. She looked up at the ceiling slowing bringing them down to rest on James. "I consider you a dear friend, all of you in fact. I swear I never went to Hogsmeade with you to get back at Sirius or because I pitied you or anything like that. I just wanted to have fun with a friend and the whole time we were together I forgot about how upset I was with Sirius. I'm sorry and I wish you could forgive me but if you can't then I have no choice but to accept that."

An unnatural silence fell upon James bedchamber. Neither one of the Head students made any noise. Lily took this to be James unspoken answer that he indeed did not forgive her. She nodded, subconsciously wiped away tears which had not appeared in her eyes and started towards the door she had left opened.

"Lily," she heard her name being called just as she was shutting the door. She turned her head and stared at him.

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Lily lay in her bed later that night trying to get to sleep too many things were floating in and out of her mind, happy thoughts, most of them. She was still trying to get her head around the fact that she and James were back on good terms. After her apology to him, James had called her back into his room forgiving her for everything she had done.

(Flashback)

"_Lily," James called out to the withdrawing Head Girl. He waited until he had her full attention before continuing. "I forgive you. It took guts to come in here and confront me while I was in the state I'm in and your words are very sincere. I know you're sorry and I know neither you nor Sirius meant to hurt me but it's still hard to believe that two friends I consider to be close would lie or keep something, as stupid as a crush, from me."_

"_I know. It was bad judgment on our part. But in my defense it was not my responsibility to tell you about it. I had no obligation to." Lily replied quickly. She sucked in a breath, "So does this mean we're okay now?"_

"_Yeah, I want us to remain friends." James told her._

_Lily felt like jumping up and down on the spot, screaming or anything to express how happy she was yet not in front of James. Instead she just smiled at him closing in the few feet between them and reached down to give him a hug, whispering a thank-you into his ear. He held onto her until she pulled out of his grip. She said a final thank-you and left his room heading towards her own._

(End of Flashback)

Everything was back on the right track. She salvaged the friendship between her and James and tomorrow she would try to put things right with her and Ivory. The most important thing Lily wanted was to get everything back to normal. No more deception, no more lies, just the honest truth from now on. Lily also had to talk to Dumbledore the next day and explain why she was unable to make it the meeting she had scheduled with him.

For once in what seemed like forever things were finally looking up. Lily had been sitting on rock-bottom for a while and now she was at last reaching the surface again. Things could only get better from here.

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Lily and James shocked their friends when they walked into the Great Hall for breakfast on Tuesday morning acting as if nothing had happened. They were sitting; eating, talking and laughing together while their friends, who were all a distance away, watched with their mouths hanging opened. Artemis keeping Ivory company while Remus and Sirius were seated a few spots down from them.

"So I guess it's obvious those two made up right? Their friendship is on track," Sirius told Remus bitterly.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic Padfoot," Remus retorted with sarcasm. "You should be happy that James forgave Lily. It proves that there's hope at putting things right again."

"Oh yeah, may be for those two. But I can't even get James to say two words to me. He just ignores me, pretends I don't exist." Sirius replied glowering at the Head students. "It's not fair I've been his friend for years, been there through everything with him and this is how he repays me. He has only been friends with her for a couple of months, yet he gives her the benefit of the doubt and shuns me."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy? Padfoot you may have been friends with James longer than Lily but James has been in love with her for years. That is a pretty strong emotion to overcome. Besides its better if they are on civil terms because that way the school is not a war zone."

Sirius turned his gaze from Lily and James to Remus. "He's not in love with her Remus. If he was he would've told me." Sirius said disbelieving Remus' notions. _James couldn't be in love, that was silly. None of the marauders had ever fallen in love. James merely had a crush on Lily. That's what he had been telling Sirius all along and why should Sirius start doubting it now._

"Sirius you can be so blind sometimes. I'm not sure James realizes how strong his feelings are for the beautiful Miss Evans but I know he's in love with her. Just look at the way he talks to her or about her." Remus paused, sighing. "Um…just keep trying to get through to him and he will come around, I promise. It might not be today, this week or this month but it will be soon." Remus said sounding all too much like an oracle.

Sirius looked back at the Head students this time carefully studying his friend's expressions and motions. _Could Remus' ideology have some truth to it?_ _If it did, that would explain a lot of things. But it didn't make sense. This was James they were talking about._

Sirius mentally laughed the thoughts off. He wouldn't believe it unless the words came out of James' mouth.

Remus and Sirius sat through the rest of breakfast without another word, both scarfing down their food and quickly heading off to their first class of the day.

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"Professor Dumbledore, please forgive me for not showing up yesterday. I had a lot going on and…and…I couldn't make…" Lily apologized sitting in a chair across from the Headmaster.

Dumbledore put his hands up to stop her from her ranting. "Miss Evans, it's quite alright. Sometimes things happen that are uncontrollable. There's no need to apologize. So let's get down to business, what brings you here?" Dumbledore asked enclosing his hands over one another and sitting back in his chair.

"Um…yes," Lily said tucking her stray hair behind her ears and pulled out a piece of parchment from her bag. "I…I came here to propose an idea to you sir."

Dumbledore waved a hand waiting for her continue. Lily smiled, "Well as you know this school in its entire history has not hand a formal newspaper. An outlet where the students interested in journalism and writing could explore that career field, nor do the students have a place where they can make open suggestions about things other than going to a Professor or Prefect. So I think it would be a great asset to this school to start one." Lily gave the piece of parchment she was holding to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took the parchment from her and looked it over thoroughly. Lily studied his face intently searching for any sign of approval or disapproval. However, his expressions remained unreadable.

"Well, Miss Evans I must say this is quite the proposal you have come up with. I will run this idea by the rest of the faculty and get back to you. I'm sure it would be no problem to turn on of the empty classrooms into the first ever Hogwarts newspaper headquarters. Do you have any ideas who will be the editor?"

Lily let out a laugh, smiling from ear-to-ear. "Ah….yes…I was thinking of holding a contest where students interested in the position write an essay which will be judged by staff members. The author of the best essay will be the new editor."

"What about you? Is this not your idea?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Yes it was my idea but shouldn't the rest of the student body get an equal chance at being editor for the school newspaper which will be representing them."

"As noble as you suggestion is, I think it's safe to announce you as the editor. That is unless you don't want to be?"

"No, sir I do." Lily replied.

"Well then it's settled. I will get back to you and we will discuss the future of this paper at a later date. Good day Miss Evans." Dumbledore said dismissing her.

Lily got up from her chair, grabbing her bag and slinging it over one shoulder. She was in a state-of-shock. After all of the research and preparation, just like that her idea was approved with little to no convincing. She was even given the position of editor. _Wow it was more than she expected. _

She left the Headmasters office with a quick goodbye and headed for her next class. She couldn't wait to tell James and Artemis the good news and work on getting Ivory to forgive her. Hopefully by the end of the day everything would be back to where it needed to be.

When Lily entered the DADA classroom, most of her fellow Gryffindors and some of the Ravenclaws were already seated. She headed towards the back and sat beside James and Artemis.

Sirius, Peter, and Remus were sitting in at the row of desks behind them while Ivory was in a desk beside Kenzie Williams, another girl they talked to on occasion and shared a dorm with, in front of them.

"Ivory," Lily called tapping the brown-haired girl on the back.

Ivory turned around in her seat to see who had called her name. Her eyes landed on Lily who was staring at her with sad green eyes. Ivory was still mad at Lily for the whole incident but she was slowing getting over it.

"What do you want?" Ivory asked bitterly which caused Kenzie to stare at both girls with bewilderment.

"To give you this," Lily told her passing Ivory a piece folded parchment. "Please just read it. That's all I'm asking."

Ivory took the parchment, nodded her head and turned back around in desk just in time to see Professor Ori walk in.

When the class began to take down notes, Ivory pulled out the parchment Lily had handed her and unfolded it. The curiosity of the letter got the better of her. Anyway if she needed to, she could get the notes from Artemis later.

_**Ivory, I know you don't want to hear me continuously apologize for my lack of judgment and thoughtlessness of your feelings and I am not going to make up any excuses for it either. How I acted was wrong and I feel really guilty for hurting you. I'm really sorry. And if there is anything I can do to make it right I will without hesitation. I can't take back what I did but if I could do it over again I would. Please can you forgive me?**_

Ivory turned the parchment over again. She had her quill ready, she was going to write a response back, but what would it be. _Did she forgive Lily? Ivory was sick of not be able to talk to her. They were best friends after all and she knew that would never change. But she was still angry. Not overly upset more like a tad bit. Had Lily really understood what this was all about? Of course she had to. This was Lily she understood everything. _

Ivory began dragging her inked quill across the back of parchment, at first writing a few words then a couple sentences, by the time she was done there was an entire paragraph written on the page. Ivory folded it back up in reverse this time, and she passed it back to Lily.

Lily took the parchment and with shaking hands unfolded it just as Ivory had done. Her stomach was in knots. All she could think about was whether this little note would be the end of her friendship. She scanned the paragraph written on it and let out a sigh of relief, tapped Artemis on the shoulder and passed the paper to her to read.

**_Lily, I know how sorry you are about what happened. I was mad at you but that I also wanted to teach you a lesson. We will always be friends no matter what happens. But you have to understand that in order for our friendship to survive; we always have to be honest and not keep things from each other. That is one of things I valued about my friendship with you and Artemis, we could always talk through things and it has to stay that way. I forgive you and I want to put this entire mess behind us and move on._**

The letter certainly made Lily's day ten times better. She felt all of burdens lifted off her shoulder. Finally life was back to normal.



Lily, Artemis and Ivory sat together at dinner that night. James had decided to eat dinner with the marauders. He was still talking to Remus and Peter.

"I'm so glad all of this is passed us now. Do you know how hard it was going between you to? It was unbearable." Artemis complained to Lily and Ivory.

"Ha-ha! Now you know what it feels like when I am suck in the middle when you and Lily are fighting. No it's not fun." Ivory told Artemis feeling no sympathy towards her friend.

The three girls spent the rest of the night hanging out and doing their homework in library. James whom they invited to hangout with them decided to work alone in his bedroom. He had a lot of work to do and he didn't want to intrude on the girl's time together.

James was in sitting at his desk figuring out the latest quidditch plays he wanted the team to try during up coming practices when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," James said making no effort to get up from his chair.

The door opened with creaking sound, "Hey Prongs, you busy?" asked the voice that belonged to no other than Sirius Black.

"Extremely," James answered coldly. He didn't even look at Sirius.

"Come on, prongs can't we put this behind us."

"I don't want to deal with this now Padfoot." James told him getting up and walking over to his opened door. He held onto it and motioned for Sirius to leave. "Please go."

Sirius lowered his head and stared at his feet as he left the Head Boy's room not speaking another word.

James sighed once again returning to his desk and quidditch plays. He wanted to forgive Sirius but every time he came close to it. Something clicked inside his head and prevented him. He knew he would sooner or later but for the time being he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He just needed more time.

Forgiving Lily was easy because they had been friends for such a short time and this was her first offense but with Sirius it was different. They had been friends for so long. James at times still couldn't believe Sirius had lied to him. It seemed like a bad dream that he could wake up from. James hated dwelling in the past but what had happen was still so fresh in his memory. It was hard to get passed.

James willed his mind to stop lingering on the Sirius situation and get back to work on the quidditch plays. He wanted to present them to the team tomorrow during practice. There was only a week and a half before the big game between Gryffindor and Slytherin and he wanted to be ready.

James picked up his quill and began writing and scribbling things out.



The rest of the week passed rather uneventful for Lily. However, she didn't care. She had both her friends' by her side once again. She was in her glory.

She spent all of her spare time hanging out with Artemis and Ivory or James, though majority of it was with James. It didn't really bother Artemis or Ivory because after Ivory decided to forgive Sirius, most of her time was taken up by him. They had made their relationship official which was a first for both of them. Artemis on the other hand was always with Remus who claimed the friends' only card.

So it wasn't really a big deal. Sirius had not bothered to talk to James for the rest of the week except during quidditch practices. He was doing as the Head Boy asked, giving him space. Sirius figured that when James was ready to forgive him he would. Sirius was glad that Ivory had forgiven him. At least he had her but he still missed his best friend.

The feud between Sirius and James did not just affect them or their friends it was something that the rest of the school had picked up on. Then again it wasn't hard to see something was amiss between the once two inseparable friends. James and Sirius barely spoke to each other. With these two boys being popular, most of the school felt it their duty to be in the marauders business. Though when asked if something was wrong they denied it.

It was a known fact that with the quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin a week away, the house rivalries would be at an all time high. It was something that James had been preparing for, spending hours locked up in his room coming up with pranks and other necessities to get one over on the Slytherins. James also spent practices telling the team not to pay any attention to the sly remarks made by anyone from the rival house. Stay focus on the game and nothing else. He did not want his team sinking to their level, if he had to he would but he gave no encouragement for teammates to do the same.

For Lily though she was excited for November 23rd to come. Her excitement had nothing to do with the game but everything to do with her seventeenth birthday. She was finally going to be seen as an adult in the eyes of the wizarding world, able to take the apparition test and do magic outside of the school without worrying about expulsion. She couldn't wait. She had been looking forward to it all month.

The other good part about Saturday was the party which was going to be held in the Gryffindor common room. It was going to be used to serve both purposes, it was going to celebrate Lily's seventeenth birthday and as a victory party when the Gryffindor team won. Either way it was a chance for the Gryffindor house to relax and have fun. Lily had gotten permission from McGonagall who agreed with the idea as long as it did not get out of hand, was properly supervised and it did not get to noisy.

Lily also had another reason to be thrilled. She was going to the party with James. When he asked her she immediately agreed. For some reason it had just felt natural. It's not like it would be any different from any other event. These days she and James were practically joined at the hip. However, when she said she would go with him, they had made no attempt to place the 'date' in the 'just going as friends' category. They actually didn't define this pairing as anything.

If it had been a few months early perhaps Lily would have thought more about it. But lately Lily had started looking forward to the time she spent with James. As much as she wished she could deny it, things between her and James were changing. Lily wasn't sure if the feelings she had for James were strictly platonic anymore. She had seen a different side of him; some could even say she had seen into his soul.



It was three days before the quidditch game when Lily told Artemis and Ivory what she had discovered about herself.

"You guys want me to be honest with you about everything right?" Lily asked nervously as she sat down on her bed. She had invited the girls to hangout in her room for the night. She had wanted to talk to them about this for two days.

"Yeah," both Artemis and Ivory replied in unison.

"Okay, well here's something I never thought I would be saying let alone tell you two about. I think I have feelings for James Potter that are more than platonic." Lily told her friends. Artemis and Ivory looked at each other then back at Lily with wide-eyes.

"Wh…what?" Artemis asked scratching the top of her head. "What? How? When?"

"To answer all of your questions, I don't know. I mean after so many years of disliking him it's hard to imagine that I would ever have any sort of feelings for him. But I've just been noticing lately how much I like been around him, I think about him constantly. Every time I see him talking to another girl that isn't either of you, I just want to…I don't know…go pull hair or something." Lily explained placing her head into her hands. She remained this way for a few seconds then bringing her head back up and running her fingers through it, smoothing out any stray strands that were not tucked back behind her ears or in her ponytail. "His unusually annoying messy hair is not all of a sudden annoying. He smells good all the time and just everything about him seems…perfect."

"Sounds like you've got it bad," Artemis told her watching her friend freak out.

"This is impossible; I do not like James Potter. This is simply the cause of me spending too much time with him. Yeah that's exactly what it is." Lily had gotten up from her bed and was now pacing her room rambling.

"Lily stop. You're making us dizzy." Artemis told her. Lily did as she was told. She stopped.

"Okay, you've managed to confess to liking James and now your talking yourself out of it. There is only one thing you got right about your ramblings and that is you have been spending too much time with him. Lily this is not a simple crush. This is more than that." Ivory explained to her. "Think back to when you liked Sirius, is it anything like that?"

Lily had moved to her chair which she pulled up to sit beside her bed. She plopped herself down into it and thought long and hard about Ivory's question. _Was this anything like what she experienced when she had a crush on Sirius? Of course it wasn't. That crush didn't even last long. The feelings she had for James were more intense than the ones she ever had for Sirius._

"What am I going to do?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean?" Ivory questioned. Both she and Artemis were confused. It was hard to follow Lily's train-of-thought. She was all over the place.

"I can't have these kinds of feelings for James. It would ruin our friendship." Lily said panicking. Her voice was becoming high pitched.

"Do you want to date him?" Artemis asked trying to calm Lily down.

"No…no…I….maybe…I don't know. But just say something did happen to that extent and we went out and then say we broke up, we would ruin a really good friendship." Lily began rambling again.

"That might not happen Lily. Relationships don't always end badly, they sometimes end in friendship. And besides don't you think you're getting a little carried away?" Ivory asked.

"Look these are your options Lily." Artemis said. "You can either act on the feelings you have for James or leave things the way they are. Ivory and I won't tell anyone unless you're okay with it. It's your decision."

"So what are you going to do?" Ivory inquired.

Lily took a moment to think over her answer. "I don't know." Lily replied shortly. _What was she going to do? _"I think I need sometime to figure this out, when I know you will."

Artemis and Ivory both stood up from Lily's bed each patting her on the shoulder in a supportive way. They gave her a small smile and left her room leaving Lily alone with her thoughts. She had a lot to think about.





"James please will you talk to me. I have given you all the space I can but now I am getting tired of this." Sirius told James. They were standing in the entrance hall outside of the Great Hall.

"I don't have time to do this right now Sirius. If you don't know the quidditch game is in a few hours." James whispered angrily looking around making sure no one was listening to their conversation.

"Yeah I know its today and I would like to spend it with my best friend. But right now he is being an ass." Sirius said getting frustrated. "What more do you want Prongs. I gave you the space you asked for. I have apologized relentlessly and yet still you won't forgive me and get passed this."

"Padfoot, it takes more than a few days of not talking to me and more than saying your sorry to get things back they way they were between us. You lied to me, and by doing that ruin the trust I had for you. It is not enough just to apologize for your actions."

"Well it was enough for Lily. She seems to be your right hand man oh sorry woman these days." Sirius retorted crossing his arms over his chest.

"This has nothing to do with me not forgiving you, this is about Lily. You're jealous of her aren't you?" James said clueing into why Sirius was so upset.

"No, I just don't understand why you would hear her out and not give me the chance to explain my side. Instead you pushed me away, someone who has been with you from the very beginning."

By now James and Sirius were almost yelling at each other. "Fine…fine, you want a chance to explain your side. I don't have time to listen to it now. But we'll talk at the victory party tonight, okay. That's all I can offer."

Finally Sirius was getting somewhere with James. "I'll take what I can get."

James and Sirius were too busy with their conversation to pay attention to the seven Slytherins who had come up from the dungeons and were on they way to breakfast. The seven Slytherins were the entire quidditch team. They had overheard the last part of Sirius and James argument.

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself Potter? You won't win the match today, you won't even make any goals," said a dark looking boy who was two sizes bigger than either James or Sirius. He was frumpy looking with black eyes and floppy brown hair. He was in the same year as James and Sirius and had been one of their rivals since first year. He was the Slytherin captain and Keeper.

"Is that a threat Ready?" Sirius asked stepping towards him wand ready.

"No Black that's a promise. You and the rest of you blood traitor teammates don't have what it takes to beat us." Justin Ready said confidently.

"That's funny, last time I checked Gryffindor has remained underfeed for the past decade. Oh yeah that's right I forgot Slytherins have a hard time counting." James retorted standing beside Sirius he too had his wand ready.

"You think your pretty smart don't you Potter?" Vincent O'Tool another seventh year said from behind Ready. Justin put his hand up to silence him.

"Well I am Head Boy and first in our class. But I don't like to brag." James replied arrogantly.

The only response the Slytherins made were grunting noises.

"Hey you're the one who brought it up." James said shrugging.

Ready stepped away from his group of friends and standing only inches from James face. "If I were you Potter, I would watch yourself today." With that he pushed passed the two Gryffindors and entered the Great Hall the rest of the Slytherin team following behind.

"If I were you I would get a breath mint, might come in handy." Sirius yelled after them but they were too far away to hear.

"See it's just like old times Prongs. Us standing up against scum like Ready and his goons." Sirius said happily but the smile on his face faded when he looked at James.

"Sirius, as fun as that was we can't sink to their level," James told him. "We have to take the higher road."

Sirius' mouth dropped to the floor. _Did he just hear James right? Did he just say that? James Potter, fearless leader of the marauders, prankster extraordinaire, no he had to of heard wrong. _Sirius began playing with his ears trying to determine whether they were clogged.

Sirius looked back at James who now had a evil grin plastered on his face. "Leave the sinking to their level to me. I have a few things planned out for dinner."

_There was the James, Sirius knew so well. _Sirius smiled back at James. "This is great Prongs. Will you tell me what your plans are?"

"Sorry I can't. But you'll know when its time. I promise we will sort this all out after the match." James patted Sirius on the shoulder then entered the Great Hall and took a seat beside Lily. Sirius followed him taking the seat which Ivory had saved for him. Two hours to go until the big match.



"Okay team, this is it. We have been practicing for this and we are ready. It doesn't matter if we win today but it would be nice if we kept with tradition. The most important thing for you to do though is to have fun out there." James told the team in the changing room minutes before the match.

They all stood up from their respected seats, grabbed their brooms and headed out to the pitch. Remus was in the announcers' box explaining the teams, rules and other tidbits about quidditch.

Within minutes of the captains shaking hands and scowling at each other, the players got on their brooms and were flying around the pitch; the first match of the year began.

James was the first one to score a goal against the Slytherins. He did it with in the first five minutes.

"SO MUCH FOR NOT GETTING ANY GOALS," Sirius yelled to the Slytherin Keeper.

"PADFOOT, SHUT UP." James yelled at him. "Pay attention to the game and not insulting the other team."

The game went on for three hours, Remus calling all of the fouls, penalties and making bias remarks against the Slytherins. The Gryffindor chasers especially James managed to score seventy points to Slytherins thirty.

"THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM IS ON FIRE TODAY." Remus yelled out to the crowd causing them to roar with pride all except for the Slytherins who booed.

"NINETY POINTS, NOW ONE HUNDRED AND NO SIGN OF THE SNITCH. IF GRYFFINDOR KEEPS UP LIKE THIS THEY WON'T NEED TO CATCH THE SNITCH."

"JAMES HAS THE QUAFFLE ONCE AGAIN, HE DODGES A BLUDGER SENT HIS WAY BY THE GIT, MARCUS ROE…, sorry Professor. POTTER COMES CLOSE TO THE HOOPS; HE THROWS IT AND YES ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR."

The game continued on like that for another hour until Jessica Holland, third year Gryffindor seeker spotted the snitch. She caught three feet above the ground.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS," Remus yelled excitedly joining the chanting and cheering of the crowd.

The entire team was flying around the air hugging and cheering. Sirius though was taunting the Slytherins. "WHO WON, IT CERTAINLY WASN'T THE LAME SLYTHERINS. THEY COULDN'T SCORE A GOAL IF IT WAS THREE INCHES IN FRONT OF THE HOOPS. HAHAHA! GRYFFINDOR WON! GRYFFINDORS ARE THE BEST!"

"COME ON SIRIUS," James yelled to his friend. "LET'S GO CELEBRATE." The Head Boy had flown up to Sirius. He was a little concerned that Sirius' bragging was going to get him into trouble.

"Sirius that's enough now," James warned. He didn't like the look of how Marcus Roe and fellow Slytherin beater, Paul Mason were looking at them. "Come on Sirius."

"Yeah alright Prongs." Sirius said agreeing with James. Sirius and James turned away from the two beaters who were hovering in the air not to far away.

"You shouldn't taunt them like that. At least not while your in the air and they have weapons." James told Sirius as they flew away from the grinning beaters.

What they didn't know was one of the beaters had caught a bludger and was hiding the struggling ball behind their back. As soon as James and Sirius turned their back to the Slytherins, Roe and Mason pulled out the bludger and hit it with as much force as they could, aiming it in the direction of the two Gryffindors. Sirius who heard it coming got out of the way just in time. However, James was not as lucky.

The bludger connected with the back of James head. "James are you okay." Sirius asked concern filling his eyes. The look on James' face proved to him there was cause for concern. He blinked several times; staring out in no particular direction and suddenly fell off his broom with out warning. It wasn't until James hit the ground with a thud that Sirius, the rest of the team and crowd realized what had happen.

James was lying on the ground unconscious.





I might fix the last scene up tomorrow. Please tell me if you think it's seems hurried.

I would like to thank vickiicky and kelliethehottie for reviewing. I appreciate your comments.

© By Mythology August 10, 2005


	10. Finally Everything Is Returning to Norm

Sorry for the wait, thanks for your patience, here is chapter 10. There is an explanation at the bottom of this chapter.

If there are spelling and grammatical errors within this please let me know. I haven't edited this properly but I will by tomorrow night. I just wanted to post it so you wouldn't have to wait any longer.

Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.



The Previous Generation

Chapter 10: Finally Everything Is Returning to Normal

James groaned bringing his un-bandaged hand up to his aching head. _What the hell had happen? Where was he and where was that stupid light coming from? _James opened his hazel eyes slowly only to be blinded even more by bright lights which increased the throbbing in his head.

"James…" he heard someone call his name in a sweet but panicked voice. His eyes getting use to sudden lack of darkness allowed him to look around at his surroundings with his blurry vision.

"Yeah?" he whispered knowing immediately who the voice belonged to without having to see their face, not that he could really see anything but blurry figures anyway.

"I'm so glad you're awake…" Lily replied getting up from her chair beside his hospital bed and engulfing the injured boy into hug, forgetting for the moment that James was in that bed for a specific reason.

"I'm glad to see you too Lily, but could you may be save the tight squeezes for when I'm not lying in a hospital bed injured." James said through groans and sharp in takes of breath.

"Sorry," Lily apologized embarrassedly pulling away from him and sitting back in her chair.

"It's okay," the Head Boy replied as he carefully sat up in bed, avoiding further injury to his all ready bantered body. It did not help much that he still could not see well. As much as he loved it when the Head Girl showed any sign of affection towards him, he was still in a lot of pain, and he really could not remember why or how he even managed to land himself in the school infirmary in the first place. What he did remember was talking to Sirius as they flew around the quidditch pitch after winning the game then everything went black, leading him to wake up in the hospital wing.

"Do you want your glasses?" Lily asked noticing that he squinted his eyes when he looked at her.

"Yeah, it would probably be a big help," he answered squinting his eyes even more trying to get a clearer look at his surroundings.

Lily stood up from her chair and carefully leaned over James in order to get his glasses from the night stand on the other side of his bed. She picked them up and handed them to him before sitting down again.

"So what happened?" James asked setting his glasses rightly on his nose as his eye sight finally became clear.

"You don't remember?" Lily questioned confused.

"I remember talking with Sirius then darkness." James replied looking closely at the hand which was wrapped up with white cloth.

"You…um fell, about twenty feet to the ground." Lily answered. "You were hit with a bludger to the back of the head."

James instinctively brought both hands up to his head feeling around for any bumps or dents. He grunted closing his eyes tightly when he felt a large bump, the size of a goose egg, in the back of his head hiding under layers of hair. He dropped his hands instantly opening his eyes again waiting for the pain to subside and secretly scolding himself for being curious about the cause of his headache. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Almost a whole day, we weren't even sure if you would wake up today." Lily replied slowly not sure how well James would take it.

"What about our victory party? What about your birthday celebration? Please tell me you celebrated your birthday Lily?" James questioned becoming frustrated. He knew Lily had been looking forward to her birthday; she had only spent last week talking almost non-stop about it.

"I wasn't going to celebrate it while you were here in the hospital wing. We decided to postpone it for a few weeks until you are up to it. Besides a victory party without the Head Boy and Quidditch captain wouldn't be the same." Lily stated sincerely looking deeply into James' hazel eyes.

"I really wish you didn't postpone it. Last night was supposed to be about you and here I ruined it for you." James said solemnly, feeling like the biggest jerk in the world at that moment.

"James, it's not your fault that some idiot decided to enact their revenge on you or Sirius. In fact he was aiming for Sirius but you managed to get in the way. But I can tell you this before Professor Ori pulled Sirius off Roe and Remus off Mason they had bloodied both the Slytherins up badly. It was quite the brawl. Of course I had followed you up here so I only saw both of them afterwards. McGonagall wasn't too happy with their behaviour and now they are facing major detentions." Lily said trying to lighten the mood. It worked she got a small smile from him.

"Well at least I know my friends had fun yesterday." James said grinning at the thought of his two best friends coming to his defense.

"Yeah," Lily said giggling at the look on James face as he pictured Sirius and Remus beating the shit out of the two Slytherin beaters.

"Speaking of which, where are they and everyone else for that mattered?" James asked for the first time noticing that Lily was the only one out of their group who was there beside him.

"They just left a few minutes before you woke up. Sirius actually refused to leave and was really close to hitting himself over the head with something just so he could stay here with you. Now that is loyalty to the fullest extent."

"Yeah Sirius has always been like that. He feels like he owes me something for some reason." James responded quickly suddenly becoming uncomfortable with the topic of Sirius.

Lily seeing the opportunity to stick in her two cents about the current predicament that James and Sirius were in, mostly on account of her, she took it. "A friend like Sirius is hard to come by and as much as I didn't like him before this year began, I think anyone with a friend like Sirius is very lucky."

"Look Lily I appreciate what you're trying to do with the whole making Sirius look good and all but could we not discuss that particular situation. Right now all I want to do is focus on getting out of this bed and finding myself some Slytherin beaters so I can kick their asses." James said sliding down into the bed and placing his head gently onto the two white cased pillows. "I think I should get some rest now. So I'll talk to you later," with that James turned his body in the opposite direction of Lily and stared at the bed beside him.

"Yeah sure, I'll just go tell Madame Pomfrey that you're awake and be on my way." Lily said shocked by James' sudden behaviour.

James heard the Head Girl get up from her now unoccupied chair and leave. He couldn't explain what just happened except that he wasn't ready to deal with the problems which still lingered from the day before. Sure he was ready to hear Sirius out and perhaps even forgive him, especially after knocking around his attackers a few times. But when it came to the situation between him and Sirius, the last person he wanted to discuss it with was Lily. Not that it was a big deal or anything, he would just rather not have those two mixing together for the moment, especially if they were going to start paying each other compliments. _Wasn't that what started Lily's infatuation with Sirius anyway, the whole fact that he was loyal?_ James wanted to prevent that from happening again. So it was probably best to keep both of them separate from each other, just incase.

He drifted off to sleep shortly after Lily had left, not waking up when Madame Pomfrey came out from her office to check him over making sure everything was fine or when his group of friends gathered around him a few hours later. James slept soundly until he was woken up for breakfast the next morning.

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"Hey Lils, how's it going?" Artemis asked as she entered the Head Girl's bedroom, without bothering to knock.

"It's good know that my friends feel comfortable enough to walk into my room without permission or any indication that they are dropping by." Lily replied sarcastically though she was smiling. "I could have been changing or something, you know?"

"Oh come on, its not like you don't have anything I don't see everyday and besides why would you be changing this late in the day? There would only be two reasons I could think of and since there is no one else present, it would have to be because you are trying to impress someone." Artemis implied as she walked further into Lily's extremely neat looking room. "What are you doing anyway? I thought you had to go talk to Dumbledore or something."

"I do in about half an hour and for your information, I am gathering up some extra things to bring to James while he's stuck in the infirmary." Lily responded while packing some books, parchment, quills, inkpot and anything else she thought would be entertaining for the Head Boy to amuse himself with for the next few days into her bag.

"How's he doing anyway, I mean has he woken up yet?" Artemis asked sitting down in the chair at Lily's desk. Lily stopped what she was doing and sat down on her bed across from her best friend.

"Well…" she sighed, "…he's awake. He woke up a little more than an hour ago. We talked briefly and it was going great until the topic of Sirius snuck in." Lily said tugging on the sleeves of the grey sweatshirt she was wearing.

"I'm guessing Sirius is still a sore sort between you and him. What did he do?" Artemis asked understanding full well how much everything between Lily/James/Sirius was still not entirely solved. Sure everything was out in the open and everyone, for the most part, had been forgiven, however, the three of them had not sat down together to work things out. Instead they all remained separate and were continuing to tiptoe around the whole incident.

"He avoided it and said he wanted to get some rest." Lily answered simply.

"What did Pomfrey say about his injuries? Was she able to repair everything? Falling off a broom twenty feet in air is pretty serious." Artemis said.

"Yeah, he's lucky with what injuries he did get. Well she said he had a broken wrist, few fractured ribs and he twisted his ankle really bad. Other than that he has a major concussion and will be in a bit of pain for a few days, but he should be back to normal in no time. However, she is going to keep him in the infirmary for at least another day just to be sure he doesn't have any internal injuries." Lily explained leaning back on her hands while looking at Artemis.

"That must suck. So how are you dealing with all of this?" Artemis asked directing all of her attention and concern towards her best friend.

"I fine, I mean I'm not the one lying in a hospital bed at the moment so all things considered I think I got the better end of that deal." Lily answered suddenly standing from her bed. "Anyway I think I should be heading off to talk to Dumbledore. If you want to hangout here until I get back your welcome to but I got to go. Talk to you later."

Lily grabbed her bag off her bed and headed toward her bedroom door. She left her room leaving it opened for Artemis; she turned one last time toward her friend. "One last thing Tem," Lily began to say causing the darker haired girl to look up at her. "stay out of James' room while I'm gone. I know how tempted you get to go through other people's things while they are indisposed." Lily shot Artemis a warning glare before stepping out further into the hallway and exiting the Head dormitory on her way down to the Headmasters office.

"I wouldn't have even thought of that before you said anything Lily." Artemis muttered out loud to no one but herself then collapsed on Lily's bed. As tempting as it would be for her to go snooping through James' room, Artemis was better than that and besides it was probably locked or had some kind of magical security alarm. Artemis could think of nothing better to do then close her eyes and sleep while she waited for Lily to return. Remus was probably in the hospital wing or library and Ivory was more than likely hiding out in a closet with Sirius at the moment. So this was how Artemis would spend her Sunday afternoon and she was content with it.

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"Please come in Miss Evans and have a seat," Professor Dumbledore said inviting the Head Girl into his office while gesturing toward one of chairs across from him.

"Thank-you Professor." Lily responded shutting the door behind her. She walked over to one of the chairs and sat down slowly while placing her bag on the floor in front of her feet.

"Well I have some good news for you Miss Evans, I have run your idea by the staff at our last meeting and several faculty members have shown interest in supervising. We actually had to have a vote on which Professor would be the best candidate," Dumbledore announced chuckling to himself at the last part. "And an unused classroom on the ground floor has already been turned into the first official Hogwarts Gazette or whatever name you decide to give this newspaper, newsroom."

Lily could barely contain the smile which had appeared across her lips, "that is absolutely amazing. Thank-you Sir. When do is the first meeting scheduled for?"

"Well that is to be determined and as editor and founder, it is your job to pick the day in which the first issue will appear and organize what kind of columns and stories that are going to be found within it. Remember Miss Evans, as exciting as this new addition to Hogwarts is, it is also a big responsibility and you have the most important job of all those who decide to participate."

"I understand Professor, and I really appreciate this opportunity. I won't let you down." Lily replied.

"I know you won't. Just remember Miss Evans, if you need any help at all do not hesitate to ask me or any of the staff. I'm sure even Mr. Potter, once he is better will be more than willing to lend a hand."

"I won't Headmaster. Thank-you again." Lily repeated standing up from her chair and shaking Dumbledore's outstretched hand. She then grabbed her bag from off the floor and made her way towards the door stopping briefly and looking back at her Headmaster. "Who is the faculty supervisor?"

"Well I thought the best person for the job would be Professor McGonagall. Which reminds me, she asked me to tell you that she will meet you tomorrow after supper to talk about the newspaper more thoroughly. Good day Miss Evans."

"Good day Professor," Lily responded then exited Dumbledore's office.

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"Prongs do you have nothing better to do than sleep?" Sirius laughed as James sat up in bed.

"Well I'm sorry Padfoot, next time I'll let you have the bludger to the back of the head instead." James replied sarcastically letting out a small moan at the change in his position.

"No thanks Prongs, but may be next quidditch game it'll be one of the Slytherins lying in the hospital bed." Sirius replied smiling. James only rolled his eyes at his friend's remark.

"So…are we going to talk about…," Sirius began slowly, pausing when Madame Pomfrey walked by glaring at him while on her way to her office in the back of the hospital wing. Once out of sight Sirius continued, "…the way we left things before your accident?"

"Sirius, you just had to ruin a good gimmick we had going with bringing reality into it didn't you?" James replied jokingly.

"I'm serious Prongs," Sirius retorted getting frustrated. _Why did James always do this? He just wanted things to get back to normal between them and here James was being an idiot._

"I'm only joking with you Sirius." James said but turned serious when he noticed that Sirius wasn't smiling, "okay what do you want from me? You want me to forgive you, I do. I forgave you after the game and I would've told you but then I kind of got hit in the head and well that ruined my plans."

"Are you just saying that so the subject is dropped or are you being sincere Prongs?" Sirius asked not entirely sure if he should believe James or not.

"Yes I am being sincere but I won't be if we don't drop this topic. Look its now in the past and that is where it needs to stay. I do hope you took something away from this though or else the entire situation would've been completely pointless. That's all I want you to do, is to at least have taken something away from all of this."

"I have Prongs, trust me." Sirius said relieved that things between him and James were finally settled and they could now get back the way things were minus the drama.

"So how are things between you and Ivory?" James asked curious about Sirius' current relationship with one of Lily's best friends. "I must say Padfoot; I never thought I would see the day when you actually dated a girl for more than a week. This must be some kind of record."

"Yeah, well Prongs I am turning over a new leaf. Besides I really like Ivory may be just about as much as you like a certain red head." Sirius said hinting at something.

"I don't know about that Sirius," James replied. He wasn't sure if Sirius actually knew how he truly felt about _that certain red haired girl;_ he wasn't sure himself how he felt about her. What he did know was that Lily was very special to him and he would do anything for her whether she asked him or not.

"So what are we going to do for your birthday?" Sirius asked randomly picking different topics to talk about. "You're going to finally be an adult, we have to celebrate. I know we could gather up Moony and Wormtail and sneak down to one of the local pubs..."

Sirius never finished his thought, "Actually I was thinking of celebrating my birthday with Lily. I kind of owe her for putting a damper on her party. So I was thinking of doing a three in one party."

The only look James received from Sirius was a confused one. "What I mean with that is to have a party where I celebrate my birthday, Lily celebrates hers and the house celebrates our victory over the Slytherins."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go out with your friends and get smashed?" Sirius asked a little disappointed with James lack of interest to hangout with just the _boys_ on his birthday, like they had for the past two years.

"Not this year Padfoot." James replied noticing the disappointed look on his best friends face. "I promise we can do that for your eighteenth birthday. Its only like what seven months away."

"Whatever, I think I should go and get started on my homework. Are you going to be outta here by tomorrow?" Sirius said quickly changing the subject.

"I don't know that depends on what Pomfrey thinks. I sure hope so. Its boring in here." James replied.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow either way." Sirius said getting up from the chair he previously occupied. He squeezed James shoulder in a brotherly supportive way before leaving the raven-haired boy alone with his silent thoughts.

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Early on Tuesday morning James was finally let out of the infirmary after a very long and thorough check up from the middle-aged, averaged height Matron who insisted on coddling all of her patients (secretly making them wish they never had to come back). However, James by now was used to Madame Pomfrey's over-protective motherly behaviour, simply because he had been to the hospital wing more times than he could count. Though every time he was placed in her care he could hardly wait for the time when he would be released.

Slowly he limped out of the infirmary making his way down the hallway and to the closest staircase. Madame Pomfrey had done her best at repairing his injuries; however, she could only do so much. A sprained ankle was one of those simple injuries which had to heal with time. There was no magical remedy for it because it wasn't a fracture. So James just had to deal with it. At least there were potions that could numb the pain long enough for him to get around.

James made his way up the several flights of stairs to the seventh floor, where his dormitory was located, as quickly as he could with an injured foot. It certainly wasn't one of the easiest things he had ever done.

The first classes of the day had all ready started which meant all of his friends were no where in sight. It was too late to go to Herbology and too early to head down to the Great Hall for lunch; his only option was to get started on the homework from Transfiguration and Charms. So that is exactly what he did.

He sat down at his desk and pulled out his quills, books, and extra parchment, looking over the instructions Lily had written down in her neat hand writing for both assignments.

They seemed simple enough, hell he could finish the Transfiguration assignment in half an hour tops. However, the Charms seemed to be a little more complicated than he would have liked. Perhaps if he left it till later he could get more details from Lily. It would probably make more sense that way and it would give him an excuse to study with her.

It was decided then; he would get Lily's help with the Charms and finish the Transfiguration assignment before lunch. He picked up one of his quills, dipped it into the inkpot and began writing out what was need for McGonagall's task, occasionally stopping to test out different transfiguration which she had the class try out before they were to do the write up.

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Started out of his current sleeping state, James looked up to see who had been bold enough to wake him up.

"Hey," a familiar redhead greeted with an awkward smile as James blinked the remaining sleep from his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked hoarsely looking at his wristwatch.

"Lunch started about fifteen minutes ago. We went to see you in the hospital wing but Madame Pomfrey said you had left. We were planning on kidnapping you if she didn't let you go. " Lily answered laughing at the last part. "But I can see we were a little late."

"Yeah, she released me around nine and it was too late to head off to class, so I came here and started working on yesterday's homework which apparently bored me to the point of sleep." James said looking up at her towering figure. She wasn't exactly standing over him but she was close enough that she cast a shadow.

"Well are you going to our afternoon classes?" she asked leaning against his desk.

"Yeah, if you give me a minute to get ready I will join you for lunch or at least the walk down to the Great Hall." James said standing up from his chair.

"Okay, but hurry up." Lily agreed standing up straight and making her way towards his opened door. James had all ready opened his trunk and was searching through it for a clean uniform to wear when Lily shut the door behind her. She went down the hallway into the common room sitting down in one of the chairs while she waited for the Head Boy to finish. She didn't have to wait long because almost immediately after she plopped herself down, James had opened his door walking into the hallway dressed and ready to go.

"That was quick" Lily commented as James walked into the common room with his packed bag slung over his left shoulder. "I can see you didn't spend anytime trying to fix your hair huh?"

"There's no point. It doesn't do anything I want it to anyway." James replied running a hand through his unruly raven locks.

"I guess your right," Lily stood up from the chair and moved closer to the much taller boy. "Let's go down shall we?" she said as she looped her had through his right arm as if he was her date to a formal event.

"Sure," James answered desperately trying not to blush or at least let Lily see. _It couldn't quite place it but there was something different about Lily. He didn't know what but she hadn't been acting herself around him lately for some reason. He tried not to put too much thought into it however, because that usually got him into trouble. _

He managed to cover up his embarrassment with a confident smile as he led the way over to the door with Lily still connected to his arm. "I have something I want to run by you," James said as he opened the door for both of them to exit through.

"Okay," Lily said not sure if she really wanted to hear this. James did have a reputation for having inappropriate ideas from time to time.

"Don't worry its nothing bad," James said reassuring her while trying to contain a laugh after seeing the look she had given him. "I just want to know if you want to get to together later and work on the Charms assignment. Seeing as how you are better at that subject than I am and I also have no idea what to do for it since I wasn't in class yesterday."

"Well I don't know," Lily replied stopping in the middle of the corridor which they had been walking through. "it depends on what you will do for me."

"What do you mean?" James asked confused.

"I know a lot of people who would pay to have me help them and here you are expecting something for free. Come on James I thought you knew me better than that." Lily said lightly hitting him on the arm.

"Um…you're joking right?" he asked absentmindedly rubbing his arm. She hadn't hit him hard enough for it to hurt.

"Of course," Lily responded. "When do you want to get started?"

"After dinner I suppose would be the best time." James answered, they had resumed on their journey down to the Great Hall while continuing to tease each other along the way. Both of them happy with the way things were going.

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I was going to write more to this chapter however I decided to stop it here because I think it was a good place. Its not as long as I would have hope, actually this is the shortest chapter in the entire story. I bet you are all wondering what took me so long to write it. Trust me I started this chapter many times over the past few months but everything I wrote I didn't like it so I would start again. I finally like this chapter and though it may seem a little boring I hope it is satisfying enough for you.

I had been putting to much pressure on myself to come up with a really good chapter and I had many things planned out, however, I have been rethinking certain things that I originally planned to put within this story. Some of my ideas seemed perfect when I first thought them up but now I'm not so sure. So I am following, for the most part, everything I planned to write in this story but this chapter and chapter 11 for sure are being completely rearranged. The original ideas I had for them no longer are an option and I am just going to write whatever comes out of my head and hope that it makes sense. I have a strong idea about what is going to happen and I think chapter 11 will be much easier to write than chapter 10. Anyway, please don't be too harsh with this chapter. I promise chapter 11 will be much more exciting.

In chapter 11:

_Lily and James' relationship will become more than a friendship scenario_

_The party for Lily and James' will happen_

_We will learn more about what will happen with the Slytherins who were involved in James accident._

_The first issue of the Hogwarts newspaper will be out and that may stir up some controversy. _

One last thing, I'm not sure what to name the Hogwarts newspaper so I am open for suggestions. As for the other story I started, A Year Never Forgotten, I'm thinking of merging that with this story. I am opened to suggestion with that as well. The merging will of course be your basic rewriting of the story.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review, you comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all those who reviewed to my last chapter. I will try to get chapter 11 written as soon as I can. I hope to have it done by March 12 but I am not making any promises.

© By Mythology, March 2, 2006


	11. Author's Note

Hello,

Sorry for the long wait. I know it has been over two years since I posted anything. I did not disappear but I am not sure what I am going to do with this story. I am sitting on the fence. I know that I do not really like the way this story is currently written, especially the first couple of chapters. I know my writing skills have improved since then and I feel that the way this story was written in the past is somewhat beneath my ability as a writer now. Therefore, if I do decide to continue writing this story, it will be started from scratch with the same general plot. I will leave this version of the story up until I decide what to do with it and whether I am going to continue with it or not. I plan on spending the next few weeks going over this story and the others before I make any final decisions.

Thanks for your patience.


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